Every week, it seems the impending El Niño makes headlines, and as surfers, we are locked into these developments. And while we pray for west swells and well-groomed sandbars, the ocean is currently hotter than it’s ever been in recorded history.

The average surface temperature of Earth’s oceans (excluding the polar regions) has reached a jaw-dropping 70 degrees Fahrenheit, or 21.1 °C. This breaks the previous record of 21.09 °C, set in 2024, according to data compiled by the European Copernicus climate change service.

“This record is another clear signal of an ocean under growing stress,” Dr. Samantha Burgess, deputy director of Copernicus, told the BBC . “El Niño is adding heat to the system, but it is doing so on top of decades of human-driven warming.”

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The BBC report notes that one reason this development is so alarming is that ocean temperatures usually peak in March or April, in the middle of the Southern Hemisphere summer.…