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Forecast: Sargassum Influx in Tourism Destinations

As you may be aware, The Minister of Tourism along with the Belize Tourism Board established a Sargassum Task Force to address the impact of Sargassum on the public and the Tourism Industry. One of the deliverables of the task force was to develop a forecasting system to provide stakeholders with advance warning of the influx of Sargassum, in order to adequately prepare to minimize the impact on the community and the tourists. This is the first notice that is being provided by the National Meteorological Service of Belize. As the forecasting tool is fine-tuned, we will provide you with further updates.

SARGASSUM FORECAST (JAN 08, 2019)

The following is a special update on the Sargassum situation for residents along
coastal areas of the country:

Latest satellite imagery suggests that sargassum concentration has decreased slightly over
Belize's Coastal Waters. However, smaller mats may still be in the area and these could
still affect local beaches during the next few days.

The latest satellite imagery suggests the presence of a few sargassum mats offshore Belize, especially in southern areas, and these could affect local beaches within the next few days.

Latest satellite imagery show that a few Sargassum mats are offshore Belize and are drifting in a general westward direction. These mats are expected to impact some coastal communities during the coming days.

Latest satellite imagery do not show significant amounts of sargassum offshore Belize. However, very small mats that are not detectable on satellite imagery may still be in the area and these could have minimal impacts along coastal communities.

Prevailing currents and wind direction are expected to send a "Sargasso stain" larger than 340 miles in diameter to the coasts in Quintana Roo, Mexico sometime next week, and it is expected to affect mainly the central and southern region of the state between Tulum and Xcalak, which borders the Belizean coastline of San Pedro. This is according to the Monitoring Network, a citizen observatory that uses information from institutions, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), to inform, prevent and alert of the arrival of sargassum to the Mexican coasts along the Caribbean.

The network informed that over the past two weeks, a significant accumulation of sargassum has been concentrated west of Jamaica and that on Monday, it was about 620 miles east of the coasts of Quintana Roo.