SANIBEL, Fla. — In recent days Southwest Florida has seen several health alerts issued for red tide along our beaches. But do we need to worry? Experts say not so fast. But they also say it will be something they are watching as the gulf waters start to warm.
FOX 4 METEOROLOGIST ANDREW SHIPLEY HAS BEEN TRACKING BLOOM FOR MONTHS AND HAS THE LATEST:
“The bloom is quite large,” said Dr. Eric Milbrandt, SCCF Marine Lab Director. “It extends from the lighthouse and central Sanibel, almost down to Naples.”
Dr. Milbrandt and his team have also been watching the red tide bloom off Sanibel. He says the bloom started near Tampa after Hurricane Milton and our recent cold fronts have pushed it south.
“This one is sort of in the medium development phase, where it is using nutrients that are coming off the coast and it is continuing to sustain itself,” said Dr. Milbrandt.
Not only is runoff fueling the bloom, but waters in the Gulf of America will soon start to warm from the 60-degree temperatures they're at now. That warming will soon start pouring even more gas on the fire.
“Red tides blooms that typically form in the Fall, then can continue on into the Winter and Spring months, if they are continuing on into the Summer months, that is when they become, in the past, sort of super blooms,” said Dr. Milbrandt.
While a lot can happen between now and then, it is something SCCF is watching.
And if it seems like we just dealt with big red tide blooms, you aren’t wrong. The red tide bloom in 2018 were devastating, well as the 2022 bloom right after Ian.
“The intensification and the size of these blooms is going up because of our discharge of nutrients to the coast,” said Dr. Milbrandt. “Unless we can reduce that, then we are to continue to see annual blooms.”
Given the location of the bloom and how our coastline is laid out, you could start feeling the effects of this bloom as our southerly winds become more common.
Just remember if red tide is bad at one beach, another beach down the road might not be as bad.