In its pelagic sargassum grounding monitoring and forecast bulletin for the northern islands communicated this Thursday, March 23, 2023, Météo France announces as a means the risk of seaweed grounding for Saint-Martin and also for Saint-Barthélemy which was previously at high risk.
The winds have been particularly changeable in recent days causing massive arrivals of sargassum on almost all the beaches of the island, not only in the northeast of the French part as is most often observed during the season (Cul-de -Sac, Orient Bay, Mount Vernon). Maho, Philipsburg, and even Marigot Bay have not escaped the environmental scourge. For the time being, the Atlantic Ocean remains loaded with sargassum to the east of the Caribbean arc, with currents generally oriented towards the west. Arrivals and strandings are not about to stop in the West Indies and Northern Islands. On the satellite images of March 20, the only usable ones, the drifts were mainly driven by a particularly dominant north-easterly wind. Near the French islands, many small rafts more or less scattered and sometimes organized in small clusters or filaments have been observed. The rafts seemed to skirt the east coast of Saint-Martin, but a few still risk snagging the coastline sometimes in unusual areas. Groundings will also be possible north and east of Saint-Barthélemy and should still continue with the help of the northeast flow. Unfortunately, few developments for the next two weeks where still fairly regular groundings are to be expected. _Vx
https://faxinfo.fr/en/environnement-prevision-sargasses-retour-du-risque-moyen-pour-les-iles-du-nord/
