Warmest Swimming Ever

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/07/tough_to_fathom_water_temperatures_on_regions_beaches_hit_the_70s/
Up and down the New England coast, beachgoers this summer have reveled in unusually warm water, with even ankle-waders taking the once-bracing plunge. From York Beach in Maine to Horseneck Beach in Westport, vacationers and day-trippers marveled at the sudden absence of what Smith called the “pain factor,’’ the numbing sting that on the warmest days would make a quick dip a gasping ordeal.

Worldwide ocean surface temperatures reached a record high this summer, according to the National Climatic Data Center, rising to more than 1 degree above average. But the coast of New England, namely the Gulf of Maine, saw a far more dramatic rise in temperatures - to more than 64 degrees, some 3 degrees higher than the 20th-century norm.