Fort Lauderdale or Miami Beach: which one has less sargassum today?

Same ocean, different days

Fort Lauderdale and Miami Beach are a short drive apart and look out on the same Atlantic. It is tempting to think that if one has sargassum the other will too. Often that is not the case. Seaweed travels in patches, and the wind and the currents can push a patch onto one stretch of coast while leaving another a few miles away almost untouched.

So the honest answer to "which one is better?" is: it depends on the day, and the only way to know is to look at both that morning.

How to compare them

The card above shows Fort Lauderdale Beach right now. This one shows South Beach, in Miami Beach:

When you compare, look beyond the colour:

• The index. Two beaches can share a level and still be at different ends of it.
• The age of the data. A value from this morning is worth more than one from yesterday. Each card says how old its data is.
• The days ahead. If one is clean today but expected to get worse, and the other the reverse, that may change your plan for the weekend.

Why the data is not the same everywhere

Our index mixes satellite images, wind, currents, tides and reports from people on the sand. Where many people report, the index has more to go on. Where few do, it leans more on the satellite and the weather, and the satellite cannot see through clouds or always tell seaweed from the shore. That is why every value comes with its age, and why a report from you is useful on any beach.

Beyond these two

Miami Beach is not a single beach: South Pointe, Mid-Beach and North Beach can differ among themselves. North of Fort Lauderdale and south of it there are more beaches on the beach list. If the two you had in mind look heavy, the neighbours are worth a look before you change your plans.