The Florida red tide respiratory irritation forecast is now being delivered through the Beaches App, a third-party app developed by Beaches App. Inc. The app incorporates information about beach conditions around the world, including in southwest Florida. Real-time forecast output is provided on the NCCOS HAB Forecasting website, where anyone, including the Beaches app developers, can ingest and use the forecast data which is updated every three hours. By incorporating information on the location and risk of respiratory irritation due to red tide, the Beaches App now allows beach goers to quickly identify beaches with low risk of respiratory irritation during a red tide event in southwest Florida.
In the Gulf of Mexico, some harmful algal blooms are caused by the microscopic algae species Karenia brevis, commonly called red tide. Karenia brevis blooms can cause respiratory illness and eye irritation in humans. It can also kill marine life, and lead to shellfish closures. Blooms are often patchy, so impacts vary by beach and throughout the day. NCCOS monitors conditions daily and issues regular forecasts for red tide blooms in the Gulf of Mexico and East Coast of Florida.
The example to the right shows the output from a beach with a high risk of respiratory irritation forecasted by NOAA’s red tide respiratory irritation forecast.