After several days of clouds, clear weather corresponded with strong (up to 20 mph) northerly winds on April 22. A bloom is not evident near Piney Point, however, we will need a few days of calm weather to detect the status of the bloom. (A slight bloom just south of MacDill is unlikely to be associated with Piney Point, upper reaches of Tampa Bay do get occasional algal blooms.) On April 18, a bloom was not visible during relatively strong winds of about 16 mph, and with clouds directly over Port Manatee. Strong winds on April 10-11 also corresponded to a less visible bloom. No usable imagery was collected on April 16-17. On April 15 the bloom in the area of the Piney Point discharge reached a size to 22 square km (9 square miles), nearly the same size as observed on April 9, when the bloom reached its largest size of about 25 square kilometers (10 square miles). Discharges stopped on April 9. Following strong winds from the south on April 10-11 (over 20 mph on April 10, and up to 15 mph on April 11), the bloom decreased substantially and was not visible in satellite imagery on April 12. The state of Florida is regularly sampling the bloom and has not found Karenia brevis.

NCCOS collects and analyzes satellite data for harmful algal blooms (HABs) every day. We routinely monitor southwest Florida for all potentially harmful blooms. This information, including the image copied below, is posted on our HAB monitoring page and is being used to monitor HABs in association with the Piney Point wastewater release by Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and Tampa Bay Estuary Program. We will continue to track the bloom’s movement until it has been confirmed to have dissipated. Additional updates and background information on the Piney Point wastewater discharge can be found at https://protectingfloridatogether.gov/PineyPointUpdate.