Fire Water: Rising Temps in Atlantic Spark Early Hurricane Season

Parts of the Atlantic Ocean are 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than they should be at this time of year, as earlier-than-usual tropical storms start to form.

The Miami Herald reported Tuesday that the hotter waters are a factor in encouraging events like Tropical Storm Bret.

“The Atlantic is definitely on fire,” Michael Fischer, an assistant scientist with the University of Miami-NOAA Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies, told the Herald.

Between April and June, the tropical Atlantic area warmed by around 1.6 degrees Celsius, compared to a norm of 1C.

“That’s greater than anything we’ve seen over the last 40 years," he said.

Looking further afield, the UK's Met Office reported that sea surface temperatures are breaking records across the globe.

In the North Atlantic, May was the warmest on record since 1850 and those warm waters stretch thousands of miles towards North America.

In the above video, you can see the outline of the European mainland and the UK to the right, with Canada and the US on the left. The darkest red spots are the highest temperatures.

“Looking at the anomaly map for current sea-surface temperatures in the North Atlantic, some really stand out," Professor Stephen Belcher, the Met Office Chief Scientist, said.

"You can see that the eastern Atlantic, from Iceland down to the tropics, is much warmer than average. But areas around parts of north-western Europe, including parts of the UK, have among some of the highest sea-surface temperatures relative to average."

The record-breaking heat is being driven by climate changes as well as natural variation, the Met Office said.

“Typically, airborne dust from the Sahara helps to cool this region by blocking and reflecting some of the sun’s energy; but weaker than average winds have reduced the extent of dust in the region’s atmosphere potentially leading to higher temperatures," Professor Albert Klein Tank, the head of the Met Office Hadley Centre, added.

“Additionally, lighter-than-usual trade winds could be playing a role.

“All of these elements are part of natural variation within the climate system which are coming together to elevate sea-surface temperatures to higher levels. It is not believed that these factors represent a climate-change-induced tipping point that produces runaway temperatures. However, they will add to climate and weather impacts this year.”

One of the results appears to be the early tropical storm season, with two systems being monitored in the mid-Atlantic heading towards the U.S. on Monday.

Experts are warning that wildlife will be badly affected and that has already been seen on the Texas coast with thousands of dead fish washing up.

“There’s a very high potential that animals such as oysters, plants and algae will be killed by this European marine heatwave, particularly within shallow waters where temperatures may superheat beyond the background levels,” Richard Unsworth, an associate professor of biosciences at Plymouth University in the UK, told CNN.

Here in the U.S., it seems unclear what effect these warmer temperatures will truly have this tropical storm season.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted a near-normal hurricane season at the end of May, but Michael Fischer told the Miami Herald that these record-breaking temperatures mean nothing is certain.

“We’re really in uncharted waters,” Fischer said.