Christmas 2016 Beach Plans? Here’s How To Check Tampa Bay Area Waters

CLEARWATER, FL — With highs expected to reach the mid-80s over Christmas weekend, chances are good that more than few people have plans to visit local beaches this holiday season. Checking on conditions at local beaches before heading out is a smart idea though. Red tide remains a problem in some areas and unsafe bacteriological levels are also a concern in places such as Davis Islands Beach.

Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium’s VisitBeaches.org website provides a snapshot of conditions at beaches from Clearwater south to Marco Island. The online tool is updated regularly with reports on any flags, water color, red tide, air temperature, fish kills and other things beachgoers need to do about.

While the tool doesn’t cover every beach along Florida’s west coast, it provides a sampling of them. The reports are subjective, Mote notes on the website, but are designed specifically “to indicate to the beachgoer which beach may be more preferable to visit at a particular time.” Updates are generally provided twice daily.

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The retooled website was rolled out late last year as an upgrade to Mote’s ongoing Beach Conditions Reporting System.

“The BCRS website was launched by Mote in 2006 to help beachgoers avoid the effects of naturally occurring Florida red tide algae, and since then it has incorporated many other kinds of beach information, such as wind direction, surf height and rip current monitoring,” Mote explained in a media release announcing the upgrades.

“With this upgraded site, we are providing more of the information that any Florida beachgoer would want, any time of the year,” said Dr. Tracy Fanara, manager of Mote’s Environmental Health Program. “We’re trying to make this a one-stop shop, whether you’re looking for updates on Florida red tide effects or other beach information.”

To check out Mote’s reporting system, visit www.VisitBeaches.org online.

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The Florida Department of Health also runs the Healthy Beaches Program to keep track of water conditions throughout the state. That program focuses on reporting the results of water quality tests performed on a regular basis at beaches across the state. The results are published regularly on the FDOH website based on individual county testing and reporting programs.

As for those Christmas weekend temperatures, the National Weather Service anticipates a high in the low- to mid-80s both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Photography provided courtesy of Pinellas County Communications Department