in waterways across Maryland,
state officials this week issued a
dire warning to swimmers to exer-
cise caution, but a variety of factors
including cool ocean water temper-
atures and the lack of rip currents
have kept Ocean City conspicuous-
ly absent from the list of fatal inci-
dents.
hanna River last weekend was the
sixth in Maryland during the month
of July and the 12th overall for the
year to date, doubling the number
over the same period last year.
However, despite the hundreds of
thousands of residents and visitors
enjoying the ocean and back bays
in the resort, Ocean City has not
seen a single drowning accident this
season.
summer has dropped 37 percent
from last summer's rate. According
to Beach Patrol Captain Butch Ar-
bin, through the end of last week-
end, his crews had made 1,357 res-
cues thus far this summer, which is
down from the 2,162 rescues over
the same period last year.
nificant drop in the number of res-
cues this summer including cool or
downright cold ocean water temper-
atures that have persisted during
the season. With a cool, wet June,
ocean temperatures inshore didn't
rise as quickly as they typically do
and even during the recent run of
hot weather, a phenomenon known
as upwelling has caused dramatic
fluctuations in water temperatures.
the ocean current has consistently
flowed south to north and the wind
direction has also been fairly con-
sistent, each of which have con-
tributed to upwelling. Hot weather
and the sun warm up the shallow
water near shore, but the prevailing
winds and currents push the warm
water off the top of the surface,
allowing much colder water to push
in close to shore.
temps like this for such an extended
period of time," he said. "We haven't
seen any tropical depressions that
push warm water from the gulf-
stream close to shore. Any near
shore water warmed by the sun gets
blown off the surface by the wind
allowing colder water to push in.
Upwelling can cause a drop in water
temperature by as much as 20 de-
grees overnight, and while we have-
n't seen those extremes, we are