I found this article..
So here are the latest water temperatures...and if you've taken a dip in the ocean off of South Jersey for most of the season(except a few weekends ago when the ocean briefly warmed up to around 70 degrees)...you know it's COLD!!! And it's been that way through the late spring into early summer. But why? A few facts/thoughts:
First...the OCEAN temperatures are cold along the entire length of the South Jersey shore...from LBI to Cape May...yes including Cape May. The "Cape May" water temperature reading is taken at the mouth of the Cape May CANAL on the Delaware Bay side of the canal. The canal is a shallower, protected body of water...so runs MUCH warmer than the ocean. So anytime you see the Cape May water temperature on a weather map...it is reflecting this reading. The map I show every night does as well. So if you swim inside the canal...yes you'll enjoy 80-degree water. If you're swimming the ocean off of Cape May...you'll be much colder like you will all along the coast.
Second...the main reason our water is stubbornly and persistently cold is in part the same reason we've been so humid and unsettled this summer. A persistent southwest flow of air pumps up the humidity, as well as the rain/t-storm chances over the past month. Southwest winds come along with this...which cause "upwelling" along our coast. In short...these southwest winds push the warm water AWAY from our coast, and colder water comes up from below to replace it. As long as the southwest winds persist...so too will the colder water near our coast. Our wind direction most of the week ahead: you guessed it...southwest. So I don't see any rapid warmup in our ocean temperature this week.
Third...notice the ocean temperature at the offshore buoy, #44009 in case you are wondering, located 26 nautical miles southeast of Cape May. That buoy is reading a water temperature in the lower 70s. All we need to bring that towards our beaches is an onshore wind, something from the southeast. So you get a strong onshore flow/sea-breeze or a pattern change...that warmer water will be pushed towards the coast. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening anytime soon.
But if and when this pattern changes...our water temperatures should follow suit and change...hopefully for the warmer. Until then...short dips are probably what most of us can muster. Though kids and dogs always seem to be more immune to the colder ocean temperatures. The cold water is a sure fire way to beat this warm, humid weather and cool off from the summer muggies! Enjoy!
