Ocean temperatures have soared five degrees above normal since early July. This warming has been ignited by an El Nino weather pattern that's collided with human-caused climate change.

"It's bonkers. I don't know how else to put it," said Ben Kirtman, an atmospheric scientist with the University of Miami Rosenstiel School. "Normally when you break records, you break records by a tenth of a degree, maybe a quarter of a degree. ... Here, we're breaking it by five degrees."