Shivers redux! Ocean temperatures are once again cool
The interaction between warm air and a cool ocean resulted in fog over the ocean in Seaside Heights yesterday. (Photo: JSHN contributor Kevin Michelson)
The ocean temperature seesaw continues at the Jersey Shore.
After nearly frigid water temperatures last week before rising during the weekend, the ocean is once again cool.
“Sea surface temps are currently running mostly in the lower to middle 60s. Cape May and Sandy Hook appear to be the warmest — around 70 or so,” said a forecaster at WeatherWorks, a weather consulting firm based in Hackettstown, NJ.
Josh Kohut, a physical oceanographer at Rutgers University, recently sat down with NewsWorks’ The Pulse to discuss ocean temperature swings. He described the upwelling effect as winds taking cold water that sits down deep and moving it toward the beach.
“So when upwelling happens, it’s when you have these really nice summertime breezes from the South, Southwest,” Kohut said. “And when you have wind coming from the South, Southwest, along our coast, because we’re on a rotating planet, it actually pushes that warm water that we’ve been talking about in the summer, offshore, away from the beach. As that water moves away from the beach, what replaces it is that really cold water from the cold pool.”
So when will warmer water temperatures return?
“The sea temps will likely hold steady or slightly cool with the south wind today and last for the next few days,” the WeatherWorks forecaster said.
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