Balmy Sea Surface Temperatures off south east Australia

It is not only warm temperatures over land that have been abnormally high. Sea Surface Temperatures of eastern and south eastern Australian coast have also been above average for this time of year.

The ENSO wrap up from the BOM for February describes:
"The SST (sea surface temperature) anomaly map for February 2016 shows warm SST anomalies extending across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific. Compared to January, warm anomalies have decreased along the equator, but have increased to the east of Australia and near the South American coast."

For the week ending 13 March 2016 it describes:
"Warm anomalies continue to surround most of the Australian continent, with large regions greater than +1 °C to the north and south. Strong anomalies occur near Tasmania, with values of +2 °C surrounding much of the island. Warm anomalies continue to cover much of the Indian Ocean."

@p_hannam @DrEmmaLJohnston @moninya pic.twitter.com/ahCprPN41i

— Andrew B Watkins (@windjunky) March 28, 2016

Here is the south east Australia map of mean sea surface temperature anomalies for February from IMOS.



Don't worry Melbourne, we have temperature that almost match due to the heat retention in Port Phillip.




Although it seems water temperatures did spike in Port Phillip mid March. Here is a multi-year comparison of Port Phillip sea surface temperatures via www.baywx.com.au.