Smoke on the water: Sea smoke returns

    If you’re looking for warmth, your best bet is the ocean, and don’t be alarmed by the steam. 


    In Atlantic City, the current ocean temperature is 36.1 degrees — a whopping 23.1 degrees warmer than the air at 9 a.m. 

    The sharp temperature difference is similar further north up the coast in northern Ocean County, where the images in the gallery was shot at sunrise today by Jerry Meaney of Barnegat Bay Island, NJ and Ed O’Malley of Bay Head and Mantoloking Today

    The result is “sea smoke,” a phenomenon that only occurs during extreme cold. 

    Delaware Sea Grant explains:

    These smoky-looking plumes rising from the ocean surface can be seen when still cold air overruns the warm moist air at the sea surface. Because the surface air is so much warmer than the cold air above it, the moisture in the rising warm air quickly condenses into small water droplets (like seeing your breath on a cold day). This phenomenon is often observed in colder climates – for example in the Arctic, Antarctic, and along the coast of Maine. Autumn is the season when sea smoke is most typically observed, as cold blasts of polar air masses blow over warm Atlantic waters.

    So if you’re looking for warmth, go surfing


    Together we can reach 100% of WHYY’s fiscal year goal