8/16/2024
WT Staff
 August 16, 2024 1107 am EDT
Java Lake, Gorton Lake join the bluegreen impacted water bodies list
One hundred and sixty-three active HABs are confirmed in New York Friday morning, down from 171 yesterday. First HABs of the season have been confirmed for Java Lake, Lake Clear and Gorton Lake. New bluegreen reports have come on for Honeoye, Hyde, Chautauqua and Red House Lake, all experiencing a new wave of HABs, some of these water bodies coming out of the 2024 archives after a period of no bluegreen activity. Reports made prior to Aug 1 have gone to the archives. See the impacted water bodies list here.
WT HAB Tracker
from the satellite monitoring program of the NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science(NCCOS) and State sources where available
New York
The latest image of Lake Champlain was captured August 15, a cloud obscured image at unknown wind speed. The previous image August 14 is a clear view of northeast Baie Missisquoi appears full of bluegreen algae at extreme high concentration 1 to 3 million cells per 100 ml on both sides of the international border. This bloom reaches south as far as the channel from North Hero Island to Isle la Motte, the south portion of the bloom at 900 thousand cells per 100 ml. St Albans Bay HAB is partially cloud obscured, we see the inner shoreline edge at 1 million cells per 100 ml. Lake Carmi appears clear with no HAB activity; Shelburne Pond is still rocking 2 million cells concentration in Vermont. See our latest report here.
Lake Erie west basin
The latest image from NCCOS was captured August 15 at wind speed 7.7 mph, mostly cloud obscured with a view of the southwest water between clouds. This visible part of the HAB presents with concentration 1 million cells around the North Maumee Bay to 600 thousand cells per 100 ml north of Monroe. The Aug 14 image is clear and taken at a lower wind speed, revealing the full extent of the HAB with extreme high concentration hot spots up to 6 million cells per 100 ml, see the satellite image here.
Louisiana: The latest upload from the NCCOS was captured August 15 at higher wind speed 7.9 mph. This image is mostly cloud obscured, a view of Lakes Verret and Palourde, as well as Avoca Island Cutoff, the concentration slightly lower in this recent image 700 thousand cells per 100 ml.
The prior image shows Lac des Allemands with high concentration hot spots in the west bay along shore up to 3 million cells. Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas are clear again, no HAB activity observed. Lake Fields is showing a high concentration HAB, 1 million in the north half and 2 million cells in the south half. Check out the latest satellite image from NCCOS here.
California: WTCAL connected with Director of EPA for Big Valley Pomo Tribe for an update on Clear Lake. Sarah Ryan has been heading up the cyanotoxin surveillance program at Clear Lake, a popular tourist destination north of San Francisco. Big Valley EPA has been engaged in monitoring for the bluegreen algae, communicating observations with the local population and tourists, communicating with California Water Quality Monitoring Board and directly to the public for more than a decade.
During this time, Big Valley has been investing in regular lab testing for cyanotoxins, aquiring an astute understanding of their water body, including the resident cyanobacteria present at any given time, along with the most critical factor, the levels of various cyanotoxins present. Big Valley tests for specific liver toxins and neurotoxins based on first geno-typing the bloom itself. Access to regular toxin surveillance in Clear Lake makes this one of a very small number of sites for which we can match a visual HAB observation with a toxin level. This work is in progress, more to follow.
The weekly bluegreen update from California Water Quality Monitoring Boards anticipated last week Friday, August 9 has not been posted as of this report.
The latest HAB Recent Bloom report is dated August 2, seven water bodies are posted with DANGER level advisories, including Lago Los Osos, Lake Chabot, Lake Anza, Discovery Bay, Contra Loma Reservoir, Big Break Regional Shoreline and Copsey Creek. Three water bodies have been posted with HAB Warning level advisories, including Discovery Bay, Tahoe Keys and San Luis Reservoir's Dinosaur Point Boat Launch. Caution advisories have been activated for another 31 sites. See the California HAB tracker report with advisories by watershed region, HAB DANGER and WARNING advisories are pinned to the map with bluegreen tags, the full list is here.
Georgia: from Coastal Health Region
There are 56 Beach Advisory signs posted along the Georgia coast at popular access points on Tybee, St. Simons, and Jekyll Islands. These signs show the current advisory status of a beach based on the result of the most recent water sample. Our data has shown that elevated bacteria levels are frequently associated with specific weather events, especially heavy rains and strong winds. Significant levels of rainfall increases runoff from surrounding uplands and may contribute to elevated bacteria levels in adjacent waters. Similarly, high winds along with heavy surf conditions will often resuspend sediment loads in the water column and may increase bacteria levels.
No new information has been found pertaining to bluegreen algae reports in Georgia since our last update. Georgia Environmental Protection Division does accept reports from the public of suspicious algal blooms. As we receive updates from EPD, the results will be found here.
Hazardous Weather Outlook issued 619 am Aug 16 by NWS Binghamton
Thunderstorms with gusty winds and heavy rainfall are possible Saturday and Sunday.
Impacting Northern Oneida-Yates-Seneca-Southern Cayuga-Onondaga-Steuben-Schuyler-Chemung-Tompkins-Madison-Southern Oneida-Cortland-Chenango-Otsego-Tioga-Broome-Delaware-Sullivan Counties
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