The sea surface temperature at the Scripps Pier in La Jolla hit 78.6 degrees on Wednesday, the highest reading in the pier’s 102-year history, according to UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

The reading broke the previous record of 78.4 degrees, which was set in 1931.

Scripps Oceanography officials say that local ocean temperatures have been running above normal for several days at that spot, but the record was not broken until Wednesday.

The institute has been taking sea surface temperatures there since August 1916 as part of its scientific research.


× The sea surface temperature at the Scripps Pier in La Jolla hit 78.6 degrees on Wednesday, the highest reading in the pier’s 102-year history, according to UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Ocean temperatures also have been above average along the entire San Diego County coastline for much of the summer, and the reason isn’t clear. The region is not experiencing an El Nino, which tends to produce very warm ocean temperatures in the summer and fall.

Daniel Rudnick, a Scripps oceanographer, said Thursday, “Southern California coastal waters have been anomalously warm since the beginning of 2014, when we experienced a marine heatwave.

“This event was popularly known as ‘the blob’. The following year, during 2015-2016, we had one of the strongest El Nino’s of the the last few decades and the local ocean continued warming.


“Since then SoCal waters are still anomalously warm — that is the water has not returned to temperatures that were normal in the previous seven years.’’

The temperatures have reached the 75 to 77 range in some spots in recent weeks between Carlsbad and Imperial Beach, and hit 80 in San Diego Bay.

The warm waters are posing a challenge for lifeguards, who’ve had to watch over enormous crowds. And many people have stepped on near-shore stingrays while entering the ocean, requiring first aid. Stingrays linger in the warm water near the interface of the beach and the ocean.

ICYMI


Satellite image captures unusual warmth of San Diego County ocean waters