At a Glance
- Hurricanes Harvey, Katia and Irma recently left colder-than-average water in their wake after trips into the Gulf of Mexico.
- The Gulf was warmer-than-average where all three of those hurricanes were located.
- The cooler waters may not slow the development of tropical systems in the near future.
Hurricanes are a powerful phenomenon, affecting everything around them – including the water in the seas over which they pass.
With three hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico just days apart, NOAA sea surface temperature anomaly maps showed the influence of hurricanes Harvey, Katia and Irma over the last three weeks.
After each storm had a chance to churn up warm water in its path, it left cooler-than-average water behind, as seen in the image above.
But in the image below, taken Aug. 23 – two days before Harvey made landfall in Texas – it's clear how much warmer those spots in the Gulf and Caribbean were.
(MORE: What Has Made This Hurricane Season Remarkable So Far)
While warm waters can help fuel a strengthening storm, the cooler waters in the Gulf and Caribbean don't necessarily signal a halt to tropical system formation in the coming days and weeks.
"Water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico generally rebound fairly quickly due to the shallow nature of the Gulf," said weather.com meteorologist Jonathan Belles. "Since Irma has moved away from the Gulf, temperatures have already recovered 2 to 4 degrees. Even without the recovery, ocean temperatures of 80 or more degrees are supportive of tropical development and formation."
