I noticed during the 2005 and 2006 seasons that water temps seemed to be higher than I had ever noticed before. We know what happened those years. I had gone back several years on buoy's 42040, 42001and 42003 looking at the SST's. The 2005 and 2006 seasons were easily the highest I found.

I would love to see a chart comparing the high SST's to hurricane strength and frequency.

On June 17, 2005 the Mid Gulf buoy had a reading of 33.6C (92.48F).

YYYY MM DD hh BAR ATMP WTMP
2005 6 17 21 1010.2 29.4 33.6

June 2006's highest temps

YYYY MM DD hh ATMP WTMP
2006 6 28 23 30 32.4
2006 6 28 21 30.7 32.1
2006 6 27 23 29.5 32.1
2006 6 28 22 30.9 32
2006 6 28 20 29.5 31.9