Some say it's naturally occurring.
|Could our most recent red tide outbreak|
be a result of last May's flood flows on the Mississippi?
Then there is the side that blames it on Lake Okeechobee. But this year releases from the Lake into the Caloosahatchee River have been negligible to none.
Does that mean it's off the hook?
Keep in mind that other Gulf Coast water ways discharge nutrients into the coast, thus it's probably wrong minded to single out one.
But if we had to pick just one, we might as well pick the biggest.
|The Mississippi's biggest flow year|
in recent times was 1993
The Mississippi River has recently been finger printed as playing a role in red tide events throughout the gulf coast by the vicissitudes of its giant Dead Zone, i.e., a nutrient-laden hypoxic zone, getting swirled into Loop Current gyres and pushed around by prevailing winds and other factors.
Could that mean our most recent outbreak had its start in the form of heavy rains in Ohio River Valley in April of last year?