Ocean temperatures have soared five degrees above normal since early July. This warming has been ignited by an El Nino weather pattern that’s collided with human-caused climate change.
“It’s bonkers. I don’t know how else to put it,” said Ben Kirtman, an atmospheric scientist with the University of Miami Rosenstiel School. “Normally when you break records, you break records by a tenth of a degree, maybe a quarter of a degree. … Here, we’re breaking it by five degrees.”
Getting on the climate change denial train is always a bad idea; but for a whole state that’s narrowly above sea level, routinely hit with hurricanes, and relies on tourism dollars? Stupid af.
They are relying on welfare from other states to keep them, somewhat literally, afloat.