What time of year does red tide usually occur in the Sanibel island/Fort Myers beach area?

I’m planning a family trip to that area in mid-late May and wanted to understand the risk of bad conditions. I know it was especially bad last year but most websites I have found don’t show a monthly trend.

Hoping the local Florida members can help share their experiences.

If I remember correctly from my days in Tampa, it generally occurs in the Fall.

Summer. As the water gets hotter and we get more rain it will "trigger" the Red Tide. Why rain? "nutrient rich" run off feeds the Red Tide in the hot water. They do say late summer/fall but "fall" in SW Florida is Summer anywhere else in the US.

Here is the NOAA website on it
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/news/redtide-florida/

I believe it's usually a summer time thing when the waters get warmer. We were down in Sarasota the end of May/early June of 2018 and everything was still fine. Water temps were nice. Might have a little warmer water down the coast though. I was down in Sarasota in August one year and there was red tide at the time.

Here's a link to FWC for red tide status: https://myfwc.com/research/redtide/statewide/