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BWS: a wet year for Bermuda includes warmer summer seas

Rainy summer days have distinguished 2023 from the norm (File photograph)

Bermuda has recorded an epic summer for rainfall, with the month of May racking up a record 12.26 inches, the wettest in 74 years, and plenty of showers since.

Last month brought plenty of tank rain but fell short of setting its own record, according to Michelle Pitcher, director of the Bermuda Weather Service.

She said that five inches of rain fell in July, compared with the average of 4.5 inches.

The island has avoided the marine heatwaves that have concerned scientists to Bermuda’s south in the Caribbean and off the coast of Florida.

Worldwide, oceans temperatures have soared to unusual heights since April — with North Atlantic waters spiking in particular.

According to Ms Pitcher, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration maintains a sea surface temperature anomaly chart, in which Bermuda’s waters have also shown unusual levels of warmth.

She said Bermuda was tracking “about 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius above average at the moment”.

As reported on Monday, BWS said a large body of high pressure known as the Bermuda-Azores High, which normally causes clear skies over the region, had weakened, allowing incursions of warm and moist air from the southwest.

Occasional showers are forecast for the remainder of this week.

As of yesterday, 4.77 inches of rain had fallen in August.

This year to date, Bermuda has recorded 46.22 inches of rain, versus a normal rainfall of 32.98 inches.

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Published August 10, 2023 at 7:52 am (Updated August 10, 2023 at 7:52 am)

BWS: a wet year for Bermuda includes warmer summer seas

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