The unprecedented stalling of the Florida Current in recent days coincided with record high King Tides across Florida as well as California.

The tides were described by life-long local residents as 6 inches or more above the highest levels ever observed (except during severe hurricanes). 

Here are time lapse images of the record flooding in Key Largo, Florida, October 29 2026, ending with a school of fish swimming around chair legs on the porch:

The unprecedented halting of the strongest part of the Florida Current is an exceptional event that resulted because currents that normally flow eastward along the north coast of Cuba and turn into the north-flowing Florida Current in the New Bahamas Channel, are instead recirculating back westwards along the northeast coast into the Gulf of Mexico.

October 28 2026 ocean currents from Windy satellite images.

It is likely that this situation will only last a few days, and the Florida Current and Gulf Stream will pick up again. The Florida Current is known to be highly stable, flowing at a rate of about 30 + 3 Sverdrups, with ony minor wiggles and pulses except during extreme hurricane storms. The interruption will have strong impacts on surface heat flows into the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf Stream.

As exceptional high tides flooding of coasts worldwide increases due to global sea level rise, major ocean currents may be become more subject to sudden extreme variability in ocean currents, of a new kind, not caused by extreme surface wind fields in hurricanes.