Caught some fun surf last Friday and the water was close to 60. Paddled out today on Long Island and it seemed like the water temperature had dropped at least 5 degrees. Literally got light ice cream headaches after two duck dives. Didn't wear boots or gloves but my hands and feet were borderline going numb. I know that front brought north winds and cooler temps, but it's been like 90 for the past week. Anyone else notice a large drop in water temps overnight? Maybe some type of upwelling?
Unless your area has recently experienced strong W or SW winds for a sustained period of time, so in your case no it would not be upwelling...water is transported 90 degrees to the right in the Northern Hemisphere.
no we have it on the east coast and it can happen on almost any coast in the world just depends on the winds
Long Island faces south, so it will occur when the winds are W/NW. The 'Coriolis Force' deflects the currents to the right, which would mean a W current would get deflected to the South. When currents move away from the coast, it allows for upwelling. For east facing beaches its the S/SW currents that create upwelling.
congrats. this ranks right up there w/ catmaster's assertion that squash tails make boards both drivey & loose.
but to the OP, yes...water here in southern nj was pushing up toward 60 a couple weeks ago, dropped into the low 50's, & has been hovering in the mid-50's since then.
Long Island faces S and SSE, hence the W WSW winds needed to create the correct conditions for upwelling to occur, not NW. Should have put WSW instead of SW in my original post.
I'll third that, and yes, it was overnight. It broke 60 here early to mid last week and damn if a day later it was back to 52, maybe even sub-50 on the 92 degree day here. How do I know? I was rocking baggies and a 2mil topper until the 60 day then went with the short sleeve rash guard and baggies to celebrate the 90 degree air barrier. I counted those degrees in the water rising one by one for months. It reaches a crescendo then BOOM. Arctic. Back up to 57 now in the liquid, but what the hell does it matter? Not like I'm gonna put some bubble bath in that still water and do the backstroke in it. It's like that Cinderella ballad from the 80s - don't know what you got til it's gone. The Jerzee boys could always resort to fashioning blow darts out of the hypos found on shore and sniping the SUPers with em. You know, staying productive and letting nature take its course.
Not sure about upwelling, but: Went for a swim on LI on Sat in boardshorts, thought I was just going to go in and out but ended up staying in for 20 mins without freezing. Shocked at how warm the water was. 90 degree air temp. Surfed for an hour on Sunday in 3/2 no booties/gloves and was absolutely fine. High 80s air. Waves sucked. Surfed yesterday AM at dawn in 3/2 w/ booties, after about 1.5 hrs got out and my hands were numb. Could barely pull my booties off. Maybe 60 degree air temp. Fun waves! So, based on my anecdotal evidence, I 100% agree with you that the water got meaningfully colder. Didn't check buoy temp and couldn't tell you why it was colder, but it definitely was.
Ok thanks. Glad to know I'm not the only one who noticed it. Might have to break the booties out again for the next swell.
hey sniffer, thats only what they teach in college level marine biology classes, but whatever you think is best. -cheers
