Something Stinks in Tampa Bay

From Mystery Maple Syrup Scents to Mystery Methane Scents to Mystery Maple Syrup Scents combined with Mystery Methane Scents, the Whiff-Guys have been the olfactory storm chasers of inexplicable regional stink clouds. Imagine our surprise when one materialized right in our own back yard!

It all started yesterday (Monday, April 27), when Tampa Bay residents on both the Pinellas and Hillsborough side began reporting a chemical scent, describing it as smelling like everything from “oil and kerosene-like” to burnt rubber to roach spray.

“We’re trying to figure out what it is and where it is coming from,” said Peter Hessling, air quality division manager for Pinellas County Environmental Control, whose offices in downtown Clearwater got a whiff of the baffling odor too. “We’re a bit mystified.”

One theory is that fumes wafted in from last week’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s a possibility, according to Hessling, depending on the size and location of the oil plume — although, as of Monday, nothing was visible on satellite imaging.

West-northwest winds at about 25 mph came in to shore from the gulf Monday. Today and Wednesday are also expected to be breezy, with winds flowing the same direction, said Bay News 9 chief meteorologist Mike Clay, who believes without a doubt that the oil spill is the culprit. “I grew up in Texas and I know what oil smells like. And that’s oil.”