The recent king tide flooding has washed out several sea turtle nests and exposed eggs on the beaches in Jupiter and Juno Beach.
Visitors to Jupiter Beach Park saw multiple eggs visible on the beach, some with small dents or cracks in their shells, on Saturday, Sept. 26. They also found fragments of shells.
“An exposed nest does not necessarily mean the eggs are no longer viable,” wrote Katie Fowler, a research scientist at Loggerhead Marinelife Center, in a prepared statement. “However, significant changes to the nest environment or the orientation of the eggs can make them unviable.”
Loggerhead, which monitors turtle nests on an 8.5-mile stretch of beach in north county, could not say how many turtles were lost because of the king tide flooding.
It will continue to monitor the nests and assess conditions, Fowler said.
How has this sea turtle nesting season been so far?
Sea turtle nesting season runs from March to October. This time of the year is a slower part of the nesting season.
Green sea turtles, who nest around this time, usually nest higher up on the beach along the dune. Loggerhead believes this is “an adaption to seasonal changes in tides, weather patterns, and beach conditions,” Fowler said.
It has been a record sea-turtle nesting season, with more than 18,000 sea turtle nests counted so far, according to a Loggerhead spokesperson.
Researchers at Loggerhead counted the highest number of leatherback nests and the second-highest number of loggerhead nests, and it’s been a top 10 year for green sea turtles as well. They counted 310 leatherback nests, 13,870 loggerhead nests, 3,882 green sea turtle nests and one nest from a rare species.
It is king tide season in Palm Beach County
Palm Beach County has borne the brunt of king tides that have recently raised water levels, flooded beaches and roadways and led to significant erosion in Jupiter Inlet Colony.
King tide season is in the fall. The powerful tides happen when full and new moons create a stronger gravitational pull, which makes high tides higher than normal. Strong ocean swells from an early-season nor’easterstorm that brought heavy rain and strong winds from the Mid-Atlantic to New England made the king tides more intense in Palm Beach County.
More flooding might be on the way this week.
There are flooding and heavy rainfall concerns as a frontal boundary stalls near South Florida, according to the National Weather Service in Miami. Higher tidal levels could lead to minor coastal flooding from midweek into the weekend.
The peak of the king tides this year are expected to happen between Oct. 7 to Oct. 15 with the new moon, Oct. 23 to Oct. 31 with the full moon, Nov. 5 to Nov. 10 with the next new moon and Nov. 22 to Nov. 26 with the next full moon, according to the weather service.
The highest tide of the year is expected to happen from Oct. 23 to Oct. 31.
Maya Washburn is a Trending News Reporter for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida-Network. Reach her at mwashburn@pbpost.com. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: King tides wash out sea turtle some nests in Jupiter, Juno Beach
