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