Weather & Science
Ocean Temperatures Hit 90 Degrees, Fueling Weather Disasters
Soaring water temperatures are triggering extreme heat, storms and drought.
Fish swim near a coral reef in Key West, Florida, on July 14.
Photographer: Joseph Prezioso/AFP/Getty Images
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Heat searing enough to knock out mobile phones. Wildfire smoke that turns the skies an apocalyptic orange. Flash floods submerging towns in upstate New York and Vermont.
This grim procession of recent disasters is being driven in part by climate change. But there’s one particular facet of global warming that’s providing potent fuel to make extreme weather even more intense: record-hot oceans.