Local water temps reach 90 degrees
May 29, 2024 - A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather station at Pier 60 on Clearwater Beach showed the water temperature hit 90 degrees Sunday, May 26, and again Monday. While the water temperature reached that benchmark on May 23, 2023, the historical average for this time of year is 85 degrees. Brian McNoldy, a tropical meteorology researcher at the University of Miami, told the Associated Press that heat in the Gulf of Mexico “really went off the rails last spring (2023), and they haven’t gotten back to the rails since then.”