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The Deepwater Horizon oil spill has had no impact on Sarasota County beaches or
any of the beaches immediately north or south of Sarasota. (6/25/10 will be
updated if needed.) (7/2/2010) According to
NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) much of the west
coast of Florida has a low probability (20 percent down to less than one percent
for Sarasota) of oiling, but the Florida Keys, Miami and Fort Lauderdale areas
have a greater probability (61 to 80 percent) due to the potential influence of
the Loop Current. Any oil reaching this area would have spent considerable time
degrading and dispersing and would be in the form of scattered tar balls and not
a large surface slick of oil.
One of the country's leading experts, Dr.
Hans C. Graber, Professor and Chair, Applied Marine Physics at the University of
Miami and Executive Director, Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote
Sensing, who has been tracking the oil spill movement via satellite images on a
daily basis told us via email on 6/21/2010 that while weather may have an impact
on the movement of the oil, "Right now there's no immediate
concern to Clearwater and/or Sarasota, but keeping an eye out is probably the
best you could do at this time... The massive blob of oil is still 100's miles
away, so if the progress of movement keeps up the momentum it still could be
weeks and months, or even not at all." The
New York Times has a very handy interactive map that can be animated to show
the progress of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Check the
information and links immediately to the right on the oil spill. There are links
to volunteer and the floridadisaster.org map is very useful and carries up to
date reports and sightings. If you are thinking of coming to
Florida to volunteer to help with the spill, thank you. But, please register
with
Volunteer Florida before making your
travel plans. |
