5. Why is the surf temperature at San Diego beaches much colder than surf temperature at Miami Beach, despite?

Question

Test question and needed a little help. My guess was that it had something to do with the Pacific Ocean being larger than the Atlantic and thus leading to colder temperatures, but I wasnt sure if there are any other contributing factors

Answer 1

Miami Beach has one you may have forgotten

It's called the Gulf Stream - the warm water that flows north
past Florida up into the North Atlantic

In the Pacific I believe the movement is south - so that's down from Alaska ( glaciers that calve) and the water is generally colder

Answer 2

California surfing is much colder than Florida.

It's because of the California Current in the Pacific Ocean. Our (San Diego's) currents come from the north. The water sweeps by Alaska, down Canada's coast, past Washington and Oregon, and right on down to Southern California making our waters nice and icy. Take a look at the first link for an illustration of this.

The second link is a good picture explaining what's going on in the Atlantic Ocean. There's that big red ring that just circles right there around the equator. It just goes around and around keeping nice and warm and hitting Florida right around it's warmest part. Also, see that blue line heading south? Because Florida is tucked back just a bit, all that cold water goes right on by without even coming near the coast.

Answer 3

Surf Temperature Miami Beach