News Climate

Why is the North Atlantic breaking heat records?

Some spots are nearly 4 degrees Celsius above normal for this time of year

A radar map of the North Atlantic ocean showing large areas of unusually high temperatures in orange and red, with some blue spots near the east coast of North America

Large swaths of the North Atlantic are well above normal temperature (orange and red) for this time of year, a trend that could affect the forthcoming hurricane season.

NOAA

By Sid Perkins

In the past few weeks, sea-surface temperatures in some parts of the North Atlantic Ocean have soared to record heights.

The anomalous warming is occurring in a large swath stretching almost one-third of the way across the Atlantic westward from the northwestern coast of Africa.