Question Answered

November 2024 - A SLA Member noticed something green around his shoreline and asked SLA what is was? 

We sent the question to The Lake Detective, Steve McComas.  Below is his response.  

With extended warm weather in September and October, summer-like weather has extended into fall, and I’m noticing late algal blooms in many lakes as well.The blue and green pigments washed on shore are from dying cyanobacteria (blue-green algae). Their growing season was a little longer than normal, but they are dying off now (I’ve attached a column I wrote about the longer than normal growing season this year). The  eastern shoreline of Spring Lake gets a lot of plants and algae being blown into shore over the growing season.