Meteorologist: Red tide season severity will depend on the winds

Crystal clear water, sunny blue skies and plenty of people at Englewood Beach on Wednesday. An enjoyable sight for Patrick Potts.

“The water is nice,” Potts said. “It’s nice and clear. You couldn’t ask for a better day here at the beach.”

Potts is well known at this beach for coming a few days a week and being everyones friend. He is pretty upset to hear the latest Fish and Wildlife red tide map, which shows concentrations creeping back into Charlotte County.

“When it’s bad you can smell it up through Englewood,” Potts said. “You can’t take it. You sneeze a lot takeoff a lot from the respiratory.”

And more could be on the way as red tide season approaches.

WINK News Meteorologist Brittany Van Voorhees said it all depends on the winds.

“Now that we’re out of the rainy season and wear it more into a pattern, we get multiple cold fronts that move through,” Voorhees said. “With those cold fronts that move south southwest Florida, we have a windshift.

“The wind shifts are out of the north and northeast, so what happens is that these higher concentrations up near Tampa at slowly started to creep down into Sarasota and Manatee Counties,” she said.

For now, Potts will enjoy the beach. But he will keep an eye on where red tide is moving.

“Just take it one day at a time,” Potts said. “Hopefully it will bypass us.”