San Diego seawater temperature hits 102-year high

The Scripps Institution of Oceanography says it has recorded the highest sea-surface temperature in San Diego in its 102 years of taking measure. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

The Scripps Institution of Oceanography says it has recorded the highest sea-surface temperature in San Diego in its 102 years of taking measure.

The organization says water at Ellen Brown Scripps Memorial Pier reached 78.6 degrees Fahrenheit (25.9 degrees Celsius) on Wednesday, surpassing a previous high set during an unusually warm period in July 1931.

Scripps has measured daily temperatures at the pier since 1916.

It says the ocean off Southern California coast has seen unusually high temperatures in the last week. Wednesday's reading followed a string of days in which individual daily records of sea surface and seafloor temperatures had been set at the pier.