Medium to high levels of red tide detected off of Florida's west coast

Red tide felt along the Gulf coast

With Spring Break kicking off and warmer temperatures, many people are ready to pack the beaches, but you'll likely feel the impacts of red tide as it plagues the coast.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Medium to high levels of Karenia Brevis, or red tide, has been detected off of Florida’s west coast from Indian Rocks Beach all the way down to March Island, according to the latest data from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The FWC has been receiving reports of fish kills. On Thursday, FWC crews helped a manatee that appeared lethargic because of the red tide blooms.

"It is especially alarming when you have a red tide event that transitions from one calendar year into the next calendar year, we would normally expect these red tides to dissipate towards the end of a calendar year, late into the fall and into the winter," said J.P. Brooker, the Florida conservation director for Ocean Conservancy.

With high winds onshore Friday afternoon, it was a tough day for beach-goers near John’s Pass.

Many people started coughing as soon as they got close to the water.

"It started immediately, we didn’t realize it was red tide until I heard one of my condo neighbors talking about it, and it explained the dry cough and all of that," said Angela Jewell, who is visiting from Indiana. "It’s just kind of a tickly, dry cough that doesn’t go away and the closer you get, the more time you spend on the beach, the more you feel it."

Widespread red tide blooms also kill fish.

READ: Tracking red tide in Florida

"I’ve seen a few dead fish I tried to go fishing, haven’t been able to get anything, so, I’ve come out here before and caught fish, so it’s affecting the fishing too," said Thomas Atchison, who cut his beach day short because he was coughing so much.

Conservationists say the use of fertilizers exacerbates red tide and say improvements to infrastructure should reduce the severity of toxic algae blooms.

Weather also comes into play with that. Offshore winds will help push the red tide away from the beach. Cooler temperatures would also slow down the spread of the blooms but as chief meteorologist Paul Delegatto has shown us, most of February was above normal and March looks much the same.

Wild Nature St. Petersburg