Sure looks to these amateur eyes like a pattern is building up of a hot Gulf and hot tropics that would support more Ivan/Katrina/Rita type hurricane paths. If it persists, and if the temperature anomalies run deep enough.

Here's an animation of the last 12 weeks:

12 week animation of Sea Surface Temperatures, and anomaly from climatic averages. Source: NOAA.

Note that most of the East Coast is protected by a coastal cold anomaly. It's that great big bulls-eye poised amongst the US's GoM oil production that's at issue...

Is it just me, or does it rather look like the Gulf Stream is less warm as it heads into the Atlantic than usual?

Also, if you missed it, RealClimate butchered William Gray recently. The small pieces of him that they left scattered across the floor almost turned my stomach.

Update [2006-4-28 11:16:36 by Stuart Staniford]: Here's paired images of Gulf of Mexico SSTs yesterday (bottom), and at the same time last year (above). That doesn't look so good, does it? (Hat tip to Ben for the link). Note that the color scales are not identical, so the effect is not as large as it looks, but it's still pretty significant.

Sea Surface Temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico, this year and last. Source: Rutgers University..