oceans all over the world are experiencing warmerthannormal temperatures but waters off the southern us could be on the brink of an ocean heat wave emergency as temperatures rise to unprecedented levels more than 40 of all global ocean temperatures are currently experiencing a heat wave according to the national oceanic and atmospheric administration the heat is even more acute off the coast of florida where ocean temperatures are currently strikingly warm brian mcnaldy senior research associate at the university of miamis rosenstiel school of marine atmospheric and earth science told abc news more highest ocean temperatures ever recorded for the month of may noaa says dangerous heat indexes blanket florida for over a month on thursday miami reached a heat index in the triple digits for the 39th consecutive day extending a record the city had broken the week before according to the national weather service when youre breaking records by such large margins thats what makes it alarming mcnaldy said were not even close to what the previous record was let alone the average fish swim around a coral reef july 13 2023 in key west fla joseph preziosoafp via getty images the waters surrounding the sunshine state have been no different this week while land temperatures have been about 95 degrees in south florida ocean temperatures clocked in at about 94 degrees up to 7 degrees warmer than they should be this time of year water temperatures do not typically measure this high until late august or early september experts said the relentless heat on both land and ocean are expected to persist through the rest of july and august traditionally the hottest time of the year forecasts show in an aerial view people are seen on the beach at haulover park july 11 2023 in miami joe raedlegetty images days with water temperature above 90 degrees fahrenheit have increased by 2500 in the florida keys since 1975 according to ian enochs noaa research ecologist and head of the atlantic oceanographic and meteorological laboratorys coral program relative to temperatures recorded from 1991 to 2020 the waters surrounding south florida are 5 to 7 degrees fahrenheit above normal mcnaldy said one of the reasons why ocean temperatures in the atlantic are so hot is because the bermuda high is stuck in an abnormal position typically the high sits further north and is stronger but this year it has remained further south and is weaker pushing those cooling trade winds south of florida without those cooling winds there is far less evaporation off the top of the water which would bring the temperatures down while reliable records only go back between 40 and 80 years for water temperatures on buoys and observation docks in the keys inferred heat data indicates this is the hottest ocean waters have gotten since humans have been on earth mcnaldy said more heatdriven shifts in wind patterns could increase hurricane risks along us coastlines researchers say how ocean warming will affect