Winter and spring SSTs in the Southern New England area continued an upward trend that began in 2005. With the exception of 2002 when SSTs were around 8°C, 2008 SSTs were at the upper end of the range of temperatures during these seasons. The provisional chlorophyll intensity levels for 2008 were similar to what has been observed for the area in the time series data, but chlorophyll magnitude for the spring bloom was two fold higher than any previous estimate. This exceptional value was caused by a bloom that developed in the Massachusetts Bay/Nantucket Shoals area that was in part included in the Southern New England area. Winter and spring zooplankton biomasses have been relatively stable and high through the last several years.