Midsummer is usually when sargassum, the floating seaweed that often washes up in malodorous piles on Florida beaches, starts to wane. But not this year.

Total amounts of the floating seaweed in the Atlantic Basin have actually continued to increase, according to a monthly report by University of South Florida Optical Oceanography Lab.

The lab uses satellite imagery to determine sargassum matt density in different sectors of the basin, which stretches from the Gulf to the coast of West Africa.

The July satellite imagery indicates higher-than-normal levels in the Gulf, the Caribbean and the western Atlantic. Those regions can send matts of sargassum toward Florida on trade winds and ocean currents.

What does that mean for Florida beach conditions in August? The continuous westward trans

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