Want to check if red tide is a problem on the beach this weekend? Check this map

Many plans to go to the beach have been thwarted in recent days thanks to the newly emerged red tide, signs of which have been found fin Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade County this week.

But some days, conditions are better than others. How does anyone know, before venturing out to the beach, what the conditions are like?

Well, there are a couple ways.

The newest comes from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which has released a new interactive map to show the status of red tide across the state as red tide spreads to the east coast of Florida and continues to plague the Gulf shores.

The map shows updated daily water samples to “provide the public with more immediate and accurate red tide data,” according to a news release from FWC.

Data is exported daily from sampling location points to a database, which are then added to dots on the map. The color of the dots represents the presence of Karenia brevis cells, the phytoplankton that causes red tide, per liter of water.

As of Saturday morning, Miami-Dade had some medium concentration points south of Sunny Isles Beach and a low concentration point near Hallendale Beach. Miami Beach had several very low concentration points in North and South Beach, with one low concentration point in mid-beach, according to the FWC map.

The FWC also posts updates on red tide conditions to their website on Wednesdays and Fridays.

This story was originally published October 6, 2018 at 11:24 AM with the headline "Want to check if red tide is a problem on the beach this weekend? Check this map."