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Some positive points about hurricane season and the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico.

During hurricane season wind tends to blow away from Florida’s Gulf Coast, which should help keep the oil at bay. If a hurricane or tropical storm does hover over or near the oil slick, the choppy waters it creates will break the oil into tiny particles that microscopic organisms will eat. FSU researcher and member of the Center for Ocean and Atmospheric Research Studies Mark Bourassa says the big storms also bring a lot of rain and that could help with the clean up if oil is already on our beaches.

“What we’ve seen before with storms, with hurricanes in particular, is they come with a lot of rain, and that rain can help wash a lot of the oil back out. There have been a lot of examples where the rain from a tropical storm has washed 90 percent of oil off beaches and we’ll probable see the same effect in the estuaries,” said Bourassa.

It’s not all good news though, beside the obvious dangers to people and property, a hurricane could also send sitting oil in the gulf to our beaches if it’s not already there. Hurricane season begins June First.