A record-breaking marine heat wave could bring severe storms and unusual humidity to the West Coast over the coming months.
Temperatures in the Pacific Ocean have swelled in some places to more than 7 degrees Fahrenheit above their normal levels. That’s intense for marine heat, as ocean temperatures don’t rise as quickly or easily as air temperatures.
“Once we start getting into 5-, 6-, 7-degree Fahrenheit territory, that is a pretty extreme marine heat wave,” Daniel Swain said in a recent live YouTube talk. Swain is a climate and extreme weather expert at the California Institute for Water Resources and a research partner at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
The unsettling outlook comes on the heels of an already extreme 2026 for Western states.
