Dale C. S. Destin: Have you had the chance to take a dip in the sea recently at one of our 366 stunning beaches? If so, you might have noticed something remarkable, the water is warmer than ever!
In fact, the meteorological summer—June to August, of 2024 has delivered the warmest such sea temperatures we’ve ever experienced in Antigua and Barbuda, based on 171 years of data going back to 1854, from NOAA.
The mean sea surface temperature (SST) this summer soared to 29.7 °C (85.5 °F), which is 1.3 °C (2.3 °F) higher than the typical SST of 28.4 °C (83.1 °F) for this time of year.
This broke the previous record of 29.3 °C (84.7 °F) set last year. Even more astonishing, every month of 2024 thus far has seen record-breaking SSTs.
Sea Warmer than Land
Interestingly, Antigua’s land temperature, measured at the V. C. Bird International Airport, for the summer averaged 28.7 °C (83.7 °F), making it 1 °C (1.8 °F) cooler than the sea.
Typically, the sea is warmer than the land by about 0.3 °C (0.5 °F), but this summer’s temperatures have highlighted an even larger gap. This is the third warmest summer on record for the land, while the sea experienced its hottest.
safety steps 
Leave a comment