UPDATE 7/7: There have now been a total of 10 shark attacks on the Carolina coast, and wouldn't you know, I'm headed right in the middle of them for vacation in a couple weeks. I think I'll stay out of the water!

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UPDATE 6/17: Scientists have said that the time of day (relating to the tide) and the phase of the moon (which affects the tides) may have contributed to the attacks.

ORIGINAL BLOG 6/15:

I've blogged a number of times before about my yearly trips to Oak Island, North Carolina, and the weather there. I'll be visiting again next month. This weekend, the island hit the big time, trending nationwide on Twitter, Facebook and even appearing on the DrudgeReport -- but not for a good reason.

After a shark attack two beaches down on Thursday (the beaches are very long as illustrated below; Ocean Isle Beach is about 8-16 miles away from Oak Island depending on how you measure it), two teenagers were severely injured Sunday afternoon. It happened near the Ocean Crest Pier, about 13 blocks down the beach from where I stay.

Here's what we know...

WATER TEMPERATURES:

It does appear that water temperatures are running above normal in the area, for the first half of June, but I'm no oceanographer so I can’t be sure that this is significant -- or that the stations are the same sites that the normals come from.

The Oak Island Pier reports an average sea surface temperature of 81 F for the first half of June, with a maximum of 85 F. The station does not have normals. Nearby stations that have averages: The average water temperature at Wilmington for the first half of June was 82 F; the normal for Wilmington during this period is 80. The average water temperature for the first half of June was 80 F at Springmaid Pier, South Carolina; the normal for Myrtle Beach during that period is 77.

You can see that the entire coast, in fact, is warmer than normal on the video below, as far as sea-surface temperatures go. Other data, such as wave heights, period, are also shown in this video of the WaveWatch III computer forecast model for yesterday afternoon:

THE SEAWEED THEORY:

One participant on the Mayor's Facebook Page believes winds may have pushed bait onto shore (the seaweed being a sign of that), an interesting theory but not one that I have any way to confirm.

AIR TEMPERATURES:

It's also possible the beach is more crowded than usual, though there's no way to confirm that. The weather has been unusually hot and humid this week, which could crowd the beaches. At the closest climate station, the high temperature at Wilmington was 97 degrees yesterday, plus high humidity, and the low was 76. That's 10 degrees above normal. At Southport, the nearest hourly station, the RealFeel temperature was 110 at 1 p.m. Sunday!

WAS IT MARY LEE?

Yes, "Mary Lee the Shark" did check in offshore last night, but she's a Great White; these were likely Tiger or Bull sharks, and more importantly, there are thousands of sharks in the ocean, so odds are it wasn't one of the several tracked at OCEarch.Org.

In the end, like many shark attacks, it could end up to just be an unfortunate coincidence. Sharks are no stranger to Oak Island; they fish for them from the end of the pier and I took the photo below of one that washed up on shore in 2011.