MALIBU—Daily temperatures in Malibu for October 2015 were well above average daily highs. According to AccuWeather, Malibu’s temperature peaked at 109 degrees Fahrenheit on October 9, and then settled in the mid-80s to finish out the month on Halloween at 88 degrees. Intellicast data depicts a daily historic average of around 70 degrees for Malibu in October, significantly below this past month’s temperatures.

Back at the end of the first week of October, NBC Los Angeles predicted that it may become the hottest October in history. This past month saw an unusual heat wave as the National Weather Service reported triple-digit temperatures across much of Southern California.

Much of the heat wave has to do with a large body of warm water off the Pacific Coast, first detected in 2013, that climatologists call “the blob,” referring to anomalous ocean conditions that trap heat that would normally be released. The blob is expected to abate by the end of 2015, but it is considered responsible for the unseasonable warm weather. It has also adversely affected marine life. In 2014, Hawaii’s coral underwent mass bleaching, an unprecedented event that biologists attribute to unseasonably warm marine conditions.

Graph depicting sea surface temperature well above normal. Via National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.
Graph depicting sea surface temperature well above normal. Via National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

The blob has affected weather as far north as Canada, with climatologists positing that with the added warm-weather effects of El Niño, “it may complement each other and then it may be the year winter is cancelled.”

Various meteorologists report that the heat wave may be broken in Los Angeles on Monday, where cooler temperatures should last throughout the week, with chances of rainfall at the beginning of the week.