A study published in February 2023 in the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Climate quantified a 50-year warming trend in the surface water of the Gulf of Mexico. The rate is twice the rate that the global ocean is warming. This is important to us in the Southeast because of the economic and environmental impacts this warming could have. It is also likely to increase the strength of developing tropical cyclones as they move over the warming water toward land. You can read more at https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/gulf-mexico-getting-warmer.
