Ocean temperatures off the Florida coast reached “hot tub-like” ninety-seven degrees

A sweltering heat wave has sent temperatures soaring across much of America, raising oceans off Florida’s coast to nearly 100 degrees.

Millions of people flocked to the Sunshine State to sunbathe over the July 4 holiday weekend, while just offshore, scorching temperatures could spell doom for the region’s picturesque coral reefs.

Scientists have warned that the “hot tub-like” conditions are catastrophic for the reefs, with “coral bleaching” already destroying much of the state’s ecosystem.

The crisis has also brought renewed attention to the effects of ongoing global warming, with natural disasters and rising sea levels particularly hampering coastal hotspots like Florida.

The heat wave caused Florida’s sea surface temperatures to reach the highest levels since satellites began capturing ocean data in 1985.

And while temperatures in the region routinely skyrocket as summer arrives, the effects begin earlier this year and will last longer.

“We didn’t expect this warming to happen so early in the year and to be so extreme,” said Derek Manzello, coordinator at Coral Reef Watch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). CNN.

“Ocean warming is only getting worse, bleaching events are becoming more common, so it really is an existential crisis for coral reefs as we know them.

“This seems unprecedented in our records.”

The ‘unprecedented’ heat wave has been particularly disastrous for coral life, with similar devastating effects seen in other parts of the world, such as Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

If the temperature stays too high for the reefs for too long, they go through a process of ‘bleaching’, eventually causing the coral to die.

The condition causes the reefs to expel their algae food source as they slowly starve, also fading their vibrant color.

Last year a shocking study published by the NOAA found that more than 70 percent of Florida’s coral reefs had been eroded by climate-induced coral bleaching and disease.

Scientists warn that rising temperatures could devastate coral reefs. Pictured: A healthy reef with vibrant colors

When coral reefs bleach, they drive away their algae food source as they slowly starve, fading their color as well

While bleaching isn’t always fatal to coral reefs, it gets worse the longer it lasts, and it only takes 2 to 3 degrees Fahrenheit too high for bleaching to occur.

According to Manzello, the sea temperature in Florida has been more than 2 degrees Celsius higher than average for almost two weeks.

However, he cautioned that the area’s waters usually don’t peak until August or September, meaning Florida’s coral crisis will worsen as the summer progresses.

He added that the effects could be “significant and severe” and large numbers of coral could die within a month.

“All the evidence at this point points to it being one of the most serious events we’ve seen,” Manzello said.

The process was explained by TikTok creator Mikes Weather Page, who also warned that temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean were already warming.

Bikini-clad beachgoers on Panama City Beach, Florida, in March

A terrifying shark was spotted July 3 in the waters off Navarre Beach, Florida, as rising temperatures keep beachgoers flocking to shore

While the reef expert warned of things to come, Katey Lesneski, a NOAA expert working to restore Florida’s lost coral reefs, said she is already witnessing the effects.

“The corals look much lighter in color, they’re usually pretty robust tones of yellow and green and brown and orange, but they’re literally starting to look like someone threw bleach on them,” she told CNN.

“Just from an ecological point of view, about 25% of marine species depend on coral reefs at some point in their lives,” Lesneski said.

“That’s everything from the pretty fish that people like to look at to the big game fish…those fish get their start and depend heavily on other components of the reef at some point.”

Millions of people in states like Arizona are currently on heat advisories, after a peer-reviewed magazine warned that just two days without power could kill nearly 13,000 people in Phoenix – currently the worst affected by the weather phenomenon

Florida is not alone in its battle with the untamed heat wave currently sweeping parts of America from New York to California.

In the Southwest, more than 50 million people received extreme temperature warnings on Wednesday, as meteorologists warned that the heat could reach 120 degrees in some areas.

The temperatures are the result of a vast area of ​​high pressure that blanketed the Four Corners, often referred to by experts as a “heat dome.”

Authorities fear the heat wave could burn out the region’s already unreliable power grid, and just two days without power could result in the deaths of thousands.

In Arizona, this was a particular concern, as forecasters warned that the state could be in the middle of its longest and hottest heat wave on record.