It's not just warm here, it's warm underwater in the Gulf of Maine 

It's not hard to be distressed and/or alarmed about climate change when reading articles these days, but a Bangor Daily News piece brought the issue home in a new way, talking about Ed Monat, a seasonal tour boat operator and scallop fisherman from Bar Harbor:

One thing Monat never saw underwater prior to this past summer, however, was a 60-plus degree thermometer reading at the bottom of the bay. For much of the year, coastal waters in the Gulf of Maine generally are expected to waver between the mid-30s and mid-50s Fahrenheit, including at depths of 40-50 feet, where Monat often descends. On a late-August dive this summer near the breakwater that helps protect Bar Harbor from the open ocean, he said, his dive thermometer registered 63 degrees.

“That’s crazy, crazy warm,” Monat said recently.

The article talks to UMaine scientists who say water temperatures in the Gulf of Maine (which covers NH's small coast, too) have risen much faster than they expected under current models, for unclear reasons.

Read the whole thing here, then join me in worrying.