Image via Colin McCarthy: Graphic from X post.
With early summer water temperatures off Northern and Central California’s coast well below 2024’s winter water temperatures, Californian’s are being warned to stay out of the water, reports Newsweek.
“Swimmers could experience hypothermia in only 30 minutes off the coast of Crescent City, California, after water temperatures plunged because of coastal winds,” Newsweek writes. “Summer temperatures in Northern and Central California could have more people flocking to the beach to cool off in the ocean, but data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows that some of the coastal waters are too cold for safe swimming.
“A recent temperature reading off the coast of Crescent City revealed that water temperatures were 47.3 degrees Fahrenheit, more than 3 degrees below normal for this time of year and 4 degrees below winter water temperatures in January,” Newsweek said.
Colin McCarthy, a weather analyst at U.C. Davis who hosts us-stormwatch.com (Instagram and X: @us_stormwatch) explained the cause of California’s unusually cold, dangerous water temperatures, in a post on X (see below, accompanying graphic above)
