Wild water temps on Molasses Reef

[deepstops]

Look at these temp swings on every low tide:

 

[Johnoly]

Looks like the gulf stream is moving in and out with all the east winds lately. Currents were pretty mild during that time. I guess the question would be "Is the gulf stream that cold?" or "is outside the stream that cold?" In Jupiter we had 70 degrees on Friday and 65 degrees on Sunday for bottom temps.

Looking at the KeyWest bouy, I'm guessing the gulf stream is cold, which is going to cream us who dive in the stream.

 

[reefman]

water temps last thursday( and that's prior to this past cold spell) were 58F in my oceanside canal, 54F in south creek(abeam entrance to pennekamp), 64F in hawks channel, 71F @ greacian rocks(bananna reef 10-25ft) and 73F@ molasses(20-30FT). displayed data in previous thread appears sound(outgoing tide brings much colder water to the outer reef tract)!!! as a side note, water temps today in fl bay were the lowest ever recorded @ long key(lonf1) 48F and blackwater sound(bnkf1) 46F. that's f___kin cold!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

reefman
key largo

 

[Chugwhump]

HOLY COW!
Is this normal for down there?
The coldest thing I have ever seen around here was 68 degrees right around Christmas 1989.
Thanks for the post Brian.
Very interesting.

Chug
Hates hard water, and the cold stuff too.

 

[gypsyjim]

Dam global warming

 

[mrfixitchapman]

I have a drysuit and I am not afraid to use it. Just didn't think it would be necessary on Molasses.

DC

 

[reefman]

iv'e been hearing these past 2 weeks(local boat captains, including today @ hobo's from a commercial stone crabber) of small but numerous fish kills in localized areas in the creeks and bayside waters of the upper keys(juvenile barracuda, mojoras, pinfish, grunts, jacks, (grey and schoolmaster)snappers and snook. no dead fish yet observed in my oceanside canal system,,,,,,,,,,,,,


reefman
key largo

 

[heydn62]

Look at these temp swings on every low tide:

I've been checking this out myself the past couple of days and wondered how "out of the norm" it was. I'll be down there for a couple of days the last week in January and hoping it warms up a bit (it's supposed to). Hoping my 4/3 wetsuit will be enough.

Anybody here dive out of KL the last few days? If so, would love to hear about it.

 

[deepstops]

water temps last thursday( and that's prior to this past cold spell) were 58F in my oceanside canal, 54F in south creek(abeam entrance to pennekamp), 64F in hawks channel, 71F @ greacian rocks(bananna reef 10-25ft) and 73F@ molasses(20-30FT). displayed data in previous thread appears sound(outgoing tide brings much colder water to the outer reef tract)!!! as a side note, water temps today in fl bay were the lowest ever recorded @ long key(lonf1) 48F and blackwater sound(bnkf1) 46F. that's f___kin cold!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

reefman
key largo

ReefMan has got it
The shallow water cooled drastically over the last ten days and those drops on the chart represent the "spill off" from the shallows on every low tide. I've seen 4 or 5 degree swings in years past but never anything of this magnitude (12-14 degrees).

 

[ONESPEED]