System maintenance is being done today at 4pm MDT. This work may affect web and data availability.
 

Historical Sea Surface Temperatures and Recent Hurricane Activity



Discussion

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were both associated with anomalously warm sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico (mostly Region 2*) during the month of August 2006, in particular. Hurricane Wilma became a record-breaking third Category-5 hurricane of the season in October, in the wake of exceptionally high Sea Surface Temperature (SST) recorded in the Western Caribbean (Region 4; September 2006 plot).


Standardized Time Series

The time series plots below are based on the Hadley SST dataset from 1871-1981, and the NOAA OI V2 after that. Data has been standardized by the monthly climatology (1971-2000) and is area averaged.
Hurricane Images
Katrina
Satellite picture of Hurricane Katrina
Rita
Satellite picture of Hurricane Rita
Wilma
Satellite picture of Hurricane Wilma

Standardized Anomalies Mean Temperatures
Region* Jul Aug Sep
Western Gulf of Mexico X X X
Eastern Gulf of Mexico X X X
Eastern Florida Coast X X X
Western Caribbean X X X
Eastern Caribbean X X X
Region* Jul Aug Sep
Western Gulf of Mexico X X X
Eastern Gulf of Mexico X X X
Eastern Florida Coast X X X
Western Caribbean X X X
Eastern Caribbean X X X

* Region Definitions:
  1. Western Gulf of Mexico: 18-30N, 88W-98W
  2. Eastern Gulf of Mexico: 20-30N, 81W-88W
  3. Florida Shelf/Bahamas: 20-30N, 70W-81W
  4. Western Caribbean: 10-20N, 71W-88W
  5. Eastern Caribbean: 10-20N, 60W-71W
Latest SST Anomaly Maps

You can choose from the following maps. They are based on the .25x.25 degree NOAA High Resolution Analysis. The climatology used is 1971-2000.
Month 2005 2006 2007
Jan X X X
Feb X X X
Mar X X X
Apr X X X
May X X X
Jun X X X
Jul X X X
Aug X X X
Sep X X
Oct X X
Nov X X
Dec X X
sstplot

Useful Timeseries

How SST's affect hurricanes: From the NOAA Hurricane Research Division FAQ