A mass of sargassum seaweed that was three to four times times larger than Mérida, the capital of Yucatán, was initially forecast to land on the state’s coast on the weekend.

But authorities said yesterday such an occurrence was unlikely.

The Cancún-based sargassum monitoring network predicted that the mass of macroalgae could be pushed toward the Yucatán coast by southerly winds blowing from the Gulf of Mexico, along with ocean currents.

The report also stated that the seaweed could affect more than 120 kilometers of coastline.

Yesterday, the state Sustainable Development Secretariat said the possibility was “very remote.”

It predicted the sargassum will be taken away from the coast in a northward direction toward the Florida peninsula.

Some areas of Yucatán have seen sargassum on the beaches, but nothing comparable to the situation in the neighboring state of Quintana Roo.

Source: El Financiero (sp), El Diario de Yucatán (sp)