Seaweed Radar

Seaweed risk at Smathers Beach

Florida · Key West

NOAA rated the seaweed risk for the coast around Smathers Beach as medium on November 12, 2026. It has stayed about there for two weeks.

The level describes sargassum offshore that could arrive. It is not a view of the sand, and it is not a forecast.

  1. Low
  2. Warning
  3. Medium (the newest level)
  4. High
NOAA data from · 2 days old

The last 14 days

October 30 – November 12, 2026

  1. October 30: medium
  2. October 31: medium
  3. November 1: medium
  4. November 2: medium
  5. November 3: high
  6. November 4: high
  7. November 5: medium
  8. November 6: medium
  9. November 7: medium
  10. November 8: medium
  11. November 9: medium
  12. November 10: medium
  13. November 11: medium
  14. November 12: medium

One mark for each day of NOAA data. The taller and darker the mark, the higher the risk for the coast around Smathers Beach. A dotted mark is a day NOAA published no map.

Month by month

Days at each level, July 2025 – November 2026. A minus after a month counts days NOAA published no map.

L
Low
W
Warning
M
Medium
H
High
Days at each risk level for the coast around Smathers Beach, by month
Month Days by level L W M H
2025
Jul00724
Aug91813
Sep01920
Oct135112
Nov12567
Dec172102
2026
Jan161140
Feb20350
Mar55201
Apr141411
May00724
Jun00030
Jul −100327
Aug −1001416
Sep −140178
Oct31270
Nov00102

Which way it faces

Faces south, open to the Straits of Florida.

Beaches open to the sea on that side are usually the first to collect seaweed when it arrives.

Shoreline around Smathers BeachSmathers Beach faces south, onto the Straits of Florida.Smathers Beachfaces southN2 km
Shoreline traced from NOAA’s map. Not for navigation.

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Questions

Is there seaweed at Smathers Beach right now?
Satellites cannot see the sand, so nobody can say from this data alone. As of November 12, 2026, NOAA rates the risk for the coast around Smathers Beach as medium. That is about sargassum offshore that could come in.
Which months are worst for seaweed around Smathers Beach?
In NOAA's daily record since July 2025, the months with the most medium or high days for this coast were July 2025 (31 of 31 days), May 2026 (31 of 31 days) and June 2026 (30 of 30 days).
Does it matter which way Smathers Beach faces?
Smathers Beach faces south, onto the Straits of Florida. Beaches open to the sea on that side are usually the first to collect seaweed when it arrives.
Where does the level come from?
From NOAA's Sargassum Inundation Risk map, which NOAA publishes daily and labels experimental. NOAA scores the shoreline in long runs. On that day this beach sat in a run of about 49 km with one level for all of it. A beach and its neighbour can share a level and still look different on the ground.
How often does this page change?
Once a day, by itself, after NOAA posts its map. NOAA's map runs one to two days behind the calendar, so the page always shows the date of the data it is quoting.

Sources and limits

Data courtesy of NOAA/AOML, NOAA CoastWatch, and USF.

The level comes from NOAA’s daily Sargassum Inundation Risk product, which NOAA calls experimental, not a forecast. NOAA scores the shoreline in long runs. On that day this beach sat in a run of about 49 km with one level for all of it. Medium is the third of NOAA's four levels: a fair amount of floating sargassum is in the waters off this coast and landings are likely somewhere along it.

NOAA's map from 2 days ago, the newest it has published. Seaweed Radar rewrites this page once a day by itself. NOAA does not endorse this site. How it works