Bracing for Idalia - Clip

Idalia may have heat waves to thank for its Category 3 status. Ocean temperatures are rising across the globe, and Florida's waters are no exception. Last month, Manatee bay hit 101.1 degrees, which is a "potential record," National Weather Service meteorologist George Rizzuto said.

Temperatures exceeded 100 degrees for two days in a row, amid a weeks-long heat advisory in southern Florida. Last year marked the fourth year in a row that oceans have broken previous heat records, which is an even stronger indicator of climate change than air temperatures.

The gulf of Mexico is also hotter than ever before, giving more fuel to cyclones like Idalia through a process called convection — where heat energy stored in water vapor is released.

“It’s not that those warm temperatures cause the storm to form,” Allison A. Wing, an associate professor of earth, ocean and atmospheric science at Florida State University, told The New York Times. “It’s more that, if a storm is able to form, it can take advantage of those incredibly warm temperatures and become a strong storm.”

Rising temperatures are devastating marine ecosystems, and pose humanitarian risks for coastal populations. Hurricanes have become deadlier over the past few decades, according to a new study published in Science Advances.