Red tide has loosened its grip. Will Hurricane Willa bring it back?
Hurricane WIlla, which is aiming for Mexico’s Pacific coast, isn’t likely to affect the weather in Florida, but could it breathe new life into red tide?
It’s possible, experts say.
“If weather experts predict that we will experience onshore winds, then yes, the existing bloom of red tide could be brought closer to shore,” said Stephannie Kettle, public relations manager for Mote Marine.
Mote officially launched the Red Tide Institute at Mote Marine Laboratory this week, thanks to a $1 million donation from the Andrew and Judith Economous Charitable Foundation. The new institute “will be an innovation hub of intensive research and development focused exclusively on advancing promising technologies for controlling and mitigating red tide impacts toward practical application,” according to press release.
On Tuesday, as Hurricane Willa inched closer to Mexico’s Pacific Coast packing high Category 3 winds and heavy rains, the Gulf of Mexico was calm as it caressed the beaches of Anna Maria Island with tiny waves. The familiar blues and greens of the Gulf were fighting their way back as the presence of Karenia brevis, the organism responsible for red tide, declines.
But red tide is still very much in the area.
According to biweekly reports from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, those steady declines left sampling in the “low” category for the first time in two months on Manatee County’s shoreline. And the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’ five-day forecasting tool shows continued low sampling through the end of the week for this area.
“It’s absolutely gorgeous here today,” said Cindy McDermott, who was at Manatee Public Beach in Holmes Beach on Tuesday with her family in tow. “We are here for two more weeks so I hope it stays this way. We were concerned about coming when we were planning our trip a few weeks ago but decided to come anyway. I’m glad we did.”
Tuesday’s beach conditions were among the best visitors and residents alike have seen for awhile. However, FWC reports that respiratory irritation and some isolated sightings of dead fish are still being reported as days of offshore winds have proved helpful overall.
Whether Hurricane Willa will play a role in red tide returning to the area remains to be seen. It’s northeasterly track would take it over a wide swath of open land andits slow movement will be a detriment to its stamina, but it could hit northern Mexico and South Texas as a tropical storm.
The remnants of the storm are still expected to get into the Gulf of Mexico. It’s possible there can be some redevelopment, but not likely based on current models.
However, the remnants could collide with a stalled front that could bring severe weather up the East Coast as it tracks toward the Carolinas, still reeling from Hurricane Florence, and out to sea.
Jerry Slaff, public affairs specialist for NOAA, said right now there isn’t a lot to be concerned about as far as red tide impacts from the storm.
However, “If a hurricane forms in the Gulf of Mexico and goes over Florida, we’ll look at potential impacts,” he said. “Also, hurricanes in the past have not caused the blooms to dissipate, though the number of cases where blooms and hurricanes occurred at the same time is small.”
Floridians are used to keeping a wary eye on major storms, but this time is it’s for a different reason.
“Everyone is definitely red tided out,” said resident Bryan Miller. “Right now, my heart goes out to everyone being impacted by all of the recent hurricanes but yeah, we don’t need anything out there bringing red tide back. It’s a natural disaster of a different sort, but at least we aren’t in harm’s way of something more serious. I’ll take red tide over a hurricane, but it would be nice when things get back to normal.”