As Floridians recover from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, Red Tide is starting to rear its ugly head. Blooms have already been spotted mostly around the Tampa Bay area since the beginning of October, but that doesn’t mean we are out of the woods here in Southwest Florida.
“Red Tide was starting before Milton and maybe around the time of Helene or a little bit before Helene, naturally related to ocean processes in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Dr. Mike Parsons, Biological Oceanographer with Florida Gulf Coast University’s Water School.
While one might think that blooms are directly related to the recent hurricane activity, Dr. Parsons says not so fast.
“The thing about Red Tide is it almost always starts in the beginning of October,” said Dr. Parsons. “That’s where you would want to put your money down if you were betting person. It is just coincidence that it happens to be around peak hurricane season.”
But do hurricanes like Milton and Helene impact the red tide? The short answer is –it can. One of the things we saw post-Helene was a significant upwelling event along Florida’s gulf coast.