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As local health and environmental officials predicted last week, the number of suspected harmful algal blooms on Owasco Lake has increased significantly in the past several days.

According to the state's official online tool for showing reported blooms, 14 cases of suspected blooms are now active in the lake as of 4 p.m. Monday. Of those cases, six are classified as "large, localized" blooms, one is "widespread" and the rest are "small localized."

The suspicious category means DEC staff determined the reported conditions, which can include submitted photographs, fit the the description of a HAB, but laboratory testing has not yet been done to confirm whether they are HABs or contain toxins.

Recent heavy rains and high temperatures made for ideal conditions for the species of cyanobacteria that form HABs, so it was likely additional blooms would surface across the lake, Cayuga County Director of Public Health Kathleen Cuddy said on Thursday, when the season's first blooms showed up on the state map.