Extreme Temperatures in the Tasman Sea Responsible for the Record Heat Waves in New Zealand and Tasmania
This is the ocean. See how much hotter it looks? For the first time, New Zealand's NIWA (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research) and Australia's Bureau of Meteorology have released a joint special climate statement discussing the extreme weather seen over the Summer of 2017-2018. Their statement notes that the water temperature in the Tasman Sea in November increased dramatically, reaching 2°C or higher above average temperatures over an extremely large area. The patch of warmer water reached all the way from Tasmania and southeast mainland Australia to New Zealand. This level of ocean heating has never been seen before and was a major factor behind the highest November and December temperatures that Tasmania has ever seen as well as New Zealand's hottest Summer on record. Although ocean temperatures in the Tasman Sea will sometimes rise dramatically during the Summer months, the geographic size of the temperature rises are usually limited in...