Sea temperatures are climbing rapidly this year and I've only been monitoring them over the last few years but they are getting to the point now where they would be at the end of the summer and if the good weather continues it will be very interesting to see how high they can get with possible implications for the winter. I was just on the Channel Coastal Observatory website and surprised that Boscombe is already over 20c although its just dropped back to 19.9c as this is near live monitoring and Westonbay in the Bristol channel is reporting 20.1c which is currently the hotspot for all the stations reporting on the website. 20c+ sea around the UK is very warm and I thought I would mention the website for anyone else that is interested. If you click on the individual stations you can see the historical charts which will depend on when the data bouy was deployed for that location but it will give you an idea of what sea temperatures we've had in recent years.
Channel Coastal Observatory
Originally Posted by: Dougie
Whilst what you are saying is correct according to the observatory, please don't confuse the temperatures stated as being a reflection on SST's. It stands to reason that shallow coastal water heats up and cools very quickly, but the deeper off shore temps are about what I would expect for this time of year, namely around 13°c to the North of Scotland, 15.5°c in the North Sea, around 16°c off the South West coast, and around 17°c in the narrow part of the channel between UK and France. Keep in mind also that after the mild winter, the start off point was higher than usual.
What the implications are for winter very much depend on the weather between now and November, so much too soon to speculate.
Originally Posted by: Larry Seinfeld