As fun-loving crazies ready themselves to take the annual St. Francis Parish Polar Plunge into 40-degree LBI waters, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts is on the brink of reporting that the planet’s sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are the warmest on record.

March is a bit magical for ECMWF researchers since it hosts the year’s warmest sea temps, once all oceans are holistically factored in.