Thread by @DrJeffMasters

As reported by @WeatherProf, Manatee Bay, FL, recorded an astonishing sea surface temperature (SST) of 101.1°F (38.4°C) at a depth of 5' today, and also hit 100.2°F (37.9°C) yesterday -- common hot tub temperatures! An SST of 101.1°F could be a world record. A 🧵 1/9

Was the 101.1°F SST believable compared to the air temperature? The air temperature at Key Largo peaked at 95°F, with winds of 0-8 mph during the afternoon. With such light winds, sunlit shallow water surrounded by dark land can have an SST that exceeds the air temperature. 2/9

The air temperature in nearby Marathon, FL, peaked at 99°F, tying their all-time record. 3/9

Was the 101.1°F SST believable compared to surrounding SSTs? Well, it was certainly extremely hot in the Everglades! According to , at least 11 stations in the Everglades had an SST >96°F today. The hottest behind Manatee Bay was 99.3°F at Murray Key. 4/9ndbc.noaa.gov

Would 101.1°F be a world record SST? Well, official world SST records are not kept. But according to a 2020 paper, ,
the world SST record may be 37.6°C (99.7°F), recorded by the offshore station KISR01 in the middle of Kuwait Bay. 5/9pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33096400/

Since the 101.1°F Manatee Bay measurement was taken near land, contamination of the measurement by land effects and organic matter in the water might be invalidate the record, when compared to the 99.7°F reading in the middle of Kuwait Bay. 6/9

The shallow waters of the Everglades can have a lot of organic matter, as seen in the photo below I took in Flamingo of a manatee. Thus, unless there is photographic proof that debris was not present in the water, it will be difficult to verify the 101.1°F record as valid. 7/9

A 2009 paper found that the shallow water SST measurements in Key West, Vaca Key, and Virginia Key tended to be biased too warm compared to satellite data by up to about 1°C (1.8°F) from land interference. 8/9 researchgate.net/profile/Lew-Gr…

I have no doubt a dip in Manatee Bay today would have been a hot tub-like experience, with SSTs near 100°F, and that these waters were some of the hottest ever recorded on Earth. A detailed investigation would be needed to determine if this was a world record SST, though. 9/9