Water temperatures

[JohnHuth]

Since I/we have to make choices on what we wear (drysuit, wetsuit, farmer john etc), it's interesting to track the seasonal changes.

In Nantucket Sound, where I do a lot of paddling, on March 1st, it was 38 deg. F. A little over a week ago, it was around 51, now it's past 55 deg F. 55 is my personal drysuit->wetsuit transition.

Using the National Buoy Data Center, and doing a quick check up the coast:

Eastern Long Island Sound 52.2

Nantucket Sound 55.5

Boston 54.1

Mass Bay/Stellwagen (off Gloucester) 53.1

Jeffery's Ledge NH 51.4

Western Maine 50.5

Central Maine 47.8

Jonesport, Maine 45.5

Nantucket Sound is shielded more from the open ocean, so I expect it gets warmer faster.

A bunch of buoys have gone adrift, and aren't getting fixed - here's a note from NOAA:

"The NOAA National Data Buoy Center has deferred annual maintenance for buoys and C-MAN stations in your region until further notice. We hope to resume maintenance of the coastal and offshore weather buoys and C-MAN network next year, pending full funding of the President's FY14 budget."

[Gcosloy]

Ocean T is not enough-if you swim in a wet suit in 55 degree water and then emerge to 60 or 65 degree air, you will stay cold. This happened to me in Salem Sound Friday and only by donning a partner's loaned fleece and my cag was I able to stay warm for the rest of the paddle. Had I worn my drysuit I would have been more comfortable all day long.

[JohnHuth]

Hi, Gene -

Yeah, I agree that ocean temps isn't the only thing. I was mainly pointing out the temperature gradient as you move south to north.

Also, a lot of people differ on their tolerance to the cold. I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse, but I'm pretty resistant to the cold. It drives my wife nuts - she was all bundled up last night when we were outside and I was comfortable in a tee shirt and shorts.

I also did an experiment in cold water immersion. I'd pulled a muscle deep inside my core, and took ice baths to help it out. I put in a thermometer into the ice bath and would sit in the water for half an hour. It was amusing - I'd pour myself a glass of wine and read about arctic exploration - seemed appropriate somehow. I started out the ice bath temps around 55 degrees F and then slowly lowered them. I found that I began to get core hypothermia when I was immersed around 48-49 degrees F for 30 minutes. There seems to be a sharp 'shelf' for my body around maybe 52 degrees, where it can do a pretty good job pumping out heat, but then can't keep up at that point.

I'll bet everyone's body is different. But, yes, the main thing is to dress for conditions on and off the water, think about wind, weather, precipitation, what you're doing, how much you might sweat, how cold you'll get when that sweaty underclothing gets exposed to wind during a rest break.

Best,

John

[lhunt]

49 deg. measured in open water off of Singing Beach Manchester MA last Friday...

[casousa81]

Gloucester Harbor (Smith's Cove, to be precise) was 59 degrees last weekend according to my father's dive computer. We launched our Boston Whaler and I was perfectly comfortable wading at the boat ramp in only my 3mm farmer john. The outer harbor was a bit cooler...

[leong]

Hmm, at least around here you can roll to cool off. The last time I rolled near my FLA digs it was to warm up. But it’s nice to be back in America.

http://www.tropicalweather.net/Florida_water_temps.htm

[lhunt]

55 deg. yesterday in Salem Sound (about midway between Misery and Eagle Islands).

[Pintail]

I spent an hour on the water yesterday (Tuesday) and it felt to me that the temperature had dropped by a couple of degrees after the several days of rain that we have had...these next few days, however, should help push it back up! I am not wearing a drysuit, but a wetsuit, topped by a tuiliq, which keeps me toasty-warm. Yesterday, I found my boots still damp inside from last week and so launched and landed again in just open sandals -- no big deal.

[glad]

I swam in Cape Cod Bay this weekend with full wet suit and neoprene hood. Though I did not have my thermometer with me, I'm a pretty good gauge of temps. If I lose motor control of my pinkies if it's below 64 degrees.

So I'm guessing it's around 65 now. One month ago, I paddled and rolled with a dry suit and measured the temp at 56.

Karen

[Phil Allen]

biased by fog and cloud cover, but gives you a good map of surface water temps:

http://marine.rutgers.edu/mrs/sat_data/?nothumbs=0&product=sst&region=capecod

best

Phil

[prudenceb]

and of course it will be complicated dressing for conditions the next few days as the air temp gets up into the 80's-90's, but the water bumps up only a bit...

pru

[lhunt]

biased by fog and cloud cover, but gives you a good map of surface water temps:

http://marine.rutgers.edu/mrs/sat_data/?nothumbs=0&product=sst&region=capecod

best

Phil

That's a good one. Interesting to note how much it changes throughout one day, and how much warmer it was on May 23 than it is now. Hmm... Not for long, I hope!

Measured 55 deg. (again) in open water off of Singing Beach and near the Miseries yesterday, late morning and late lunchtime, respectively.

Lisa

[josko]

FWIW, a satellite only measures water temp in the top 1/8" or so. Any wind that mixes the water column shows as a reduction of surface temperature. Oftentimes, one will see the sat. image drop a few degrees as the seabreeze picks up.

[casousa81]

I measured 56 degrees in Gloucester Harbor yesterday... and a ton of pollen floating on the surface

[Mforti]

FWIW, a satellite only measures water temp in the top 1/8" or so. Any wind that mixes the water column shows as a reduction of surface temperature. Oftentimes, one will see the sat. image drop a few degrees as the seabreeze picks up.

That explains the drastic disparities between measurements that are only days apart on the Rutgers site. I thought that something didn't seem right.

The 55 and 56 degree field measurements sound much more accurate to me, I was in the water last night. They also are in line with a reasonable seasonal warming trend based on a measurement of 53 degrees in Essex basin almost 4 weeks ago.

Edited May 31, 2013 by Mforti