I went out today which was fun but the water temp was really cold. The water temp for monmouth county says 45 on the top of the web page but it felt much colder. My hands were killing me after only 45 minutes. I noticed that the sandy hook buoy and cape may buoys are reading water temps at 38 and 35. That seems more accurate to me. Is there a reason why the water temp on the top of the page is so much different than these other buoy readings? I'm thinking some upwelling could have made the temp colder today too.
The temperature shown on the website is the nearest offshore buoy, the actual temperature where you surf is usually slightly different. The temp shown is a mere guide
And dude, 45 is ****ing cold. Freezing. 38 usually is the norm in over a month from now. But still, anything in the low to mid 40s is extremely cold. I just think it is alarming at this point in the year. The temps usually dont plummet this early. It seems like there is always a pre or post christmas swell back in maryland that has 40 degree air, nice offshores and reasonable water temps. Its like the last hoorah before sh** gets really official.
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=44009 This is the site for the buoy. 26 Nautical Miles Southeast of Cape May, NJ. Funny this came up, I was just talking about the accuracy of the water temp. Like previous post, it is a guide.
def. should only be used as a guide...i find that's the banner at the top is usu. a good 5° off the actual water temp year-round. for the present discrepency, consider the last week or so of strong offshore flow. that has to have hacked a good 5-10° off the water temp easily.
yeah, and especially 45 is pretty cold when you think about how the water was still in the 60s at the beginning of november.
i'm leaving for cape cod today and was checking water temps out there -- 47 for the cape vs. 45 for vabeach? seems strange. should be downright toasty up there...
Yeah that buoy is far enough out to be way different than the water temp in the lineup. But its saying 44 degress and after surfing two hours yesterday in OC i'd say 44 sounds about right...Based on how i felt anyway, I doubt it was any colder than that.
yup - it always helps me to imagine that in 45 degree water you could only stay alive for about 10 minutes without a wetsuit. I think when the Titanic sank the water temperature was around 35 degrees and people died within a few minutes.
word Here's some cool NOAA data...unfortunately not enough to answer most of the questions people have brought up, but interesting nonetheless. http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/dsdt/cwtg/catl.html Like Zach, I seem to remember the temps staying reasonable until after Christmas in past years, but this data seems to refute that. According to the site, the data has been compiled over multiple years, potentially back to the 80's, depending on the location (some buoys newer than others, so the data may not go back as far). It's also important to note that many of the locations shown are inland waters. Washington, DC for instance has a larger temperature range than Ocean City (46 vs. 34 degrees) and also changes much more rapidly. I could just geek out all day look at this thing, but I think I've gone far enough already...
Pretty sure the OC location on that site is the coast guard station (bay) not ocean. I have a hard time believing 34 is a long term average ocean temp for February, OCMD.
Man it felt colder than 44 to me yesterday and today. Feet were numb after an hour forty five in the water. That's how long I last in late Jan / Feb not in December.
Haha, I used this chart a couple years ago and made a database with like every region from Jersey to NC. It had data from this site, swell consistency and other water temp data averages... The thing that was interesting to me was that although air temps are a bit more mild, every ocean temp from Northern VA to NY (Montauk) is about the same... So, once it hits december - february, everyone is in a very similar boat.... Interesting... I also watched the data 2 years ago to see how cold it actually recorded... No offense, but the most accurate data I collected "SEEMED" to be from surfline, which really had OC MD bottom out at around 38-41 degrees in the dead of winter. The actual shore readings that they did about once a week never went below 38.... And it was the same in coastal jersey... But in a nut shell, that Noaa data is pretty accurate (coastal ocean temp anyway)... I didnt look into the baltimore annapolis data.
Definitely agree with ya there, though honestly I probably couldn't tell the difference at that point. Somewhere around 40-42, it just becomes "damn cold" or "un-f'n-bearable", depending on the air temp too of course. I also have a hard time believing 34 degrees in February. It's not so much because I don't believe it, but Surfline has somehow conditioned me to believe that we bottom out somewhere in the high 30's. Definitely didn't believe that until I surfed Buxton last winter in a 3/2 and thought I was going to die after 20 minutes. Somehow I still look at the New England types with a higher salute of hardcore-ness, just because the air temp's get so much colder. I spent a few weeks in Newport, RI a few years ago, thinking I would paddle out. I don't think you could have paid me to surf in that (0-5 degree air temps), yet there was a hardy crowd of 10-15 longboarders at First Beach riding knee-waisters. I think you're probably right there as well. Sean Collins is a pretty friggen smart guy and seems to be really geeky (not in a bad way, but one that makes him all the more reputable). I'm sure he has that site set up to give pretty accurate temps for all the major locations. The NOAA data was collected partly to inform recreational swimmers. I don't know too many of those in the Potomac in DC, or in Baltimore, for that matter! Here's a quick article about how salinity/temperature result in sea ice, thermoclines, and a seawater freezing point around 29 degrees in most places. Pretty interesting stuff. http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Re-St/Sea-Water-Freezing-of.html I do remember seeing frozen ocean when I took my gf to Plymouth Rock in MA (which sucks, btw, definitely NOT worth the effort!). There was an L-shaped jetty, within which the top few inches were frozen, enough to support the weight of a 20 lb rock that we tossed onto it. I suppose this could only happen because the water in the area was shallow, and there was sufficiently little movement so that the entire column of water could cool enough to achieve surface ice. And there went 30 minutes of my life that I'll never get back!
I'm not sure if this is true, but someone told me that in recent decades, the Pier in OC MD broke apart due to freezing. I mean, the wood etc froze and the structure began to snap as swell etc hit it... Can anyone remember/verify this? Im not saying that waves froze in mid air or anything, but that the salt water collected within the wood beams etc all went to a sub-29 degree temp, resulting in damage...
" Thus sea ice, when melted, is considerably fresher than the original sea water from which it formed. This brine rejection process creates dense water below the ice surface. This layer of dense water may sink to the bottom of the ocean. " Nice article, thanks for the link. Very Interesting. I assumed the salt locked in there and froze!
I have seen the Ocean frozen here quite a few times & remember as a kid we were @ OC inlet & ocean was frozen as far as you could see except 10'-20' from the shoreline, around the pier & mouth of the inlet. Big chunks (volkswagon size) were slamming into the pier pilings. Remember one of the HoHo contests 20+ years ago & only part of the ocean that wasn't frozen was the shoreline out a little beyond the end of the jetty @ NS. Solid chest to head high waves for the contest & small chunks of ice (softball size) in the lineup/waves to dodge while riding.
