Welcome to Florida and its beaches, with white sand and warm breezes . . . and clumps of seaweed rotting in the sun.

With the Republican National Convention 10 days out, this is not exactly the first impression we wanted to make. But in recent weeks, beachgoers, fishermen and experts have reported unusually large clusters of seaweed dumped in patches between St. Pete Beach and at least as far north as Clearwater. It's squishy and slimy and doesn't smell good.

Some locals call the seaweed a fact of life. Experts call it sargassum or "gulfweed," a brown algae of a variety normally found in deeper water. Tropical Storm Debby might at least be partially responsible for pushing it inland.

Some cities are cleaning it up. Others are letting nature do the job.

Either way, it won't be washing out with the next tide.

Clearwater Beach has had thick bands pile up in recent weeks, prompting complaints from at least one resident. While city employees rake the beach daily, officials got a special permit from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to remove larger amounts of seaweed than usual, said city spokeswoman Joelle Castelli.

On Thursday afternoon, northern stretches of the beach still had large amounts of seaweed on them. The most heavily visited portion of the beach around Pier 60 was relatively free of seaweed, however, with several beachgoers professing surprise that anyone had complained.

"I live up here, so I look out on the beach all the time," said Walt Chase, who lives in a residential building that abuts the sand north of Pier 60 on Mandalay Avenue. He said he had noticed no excess seaweed or bad smell.

Neither did Rick Falkenstein, co-owner of the Hurricane Seafood Restaurant on St. Pete Beach.

"The gulf sheds, like a dog," Falkenstein said. "It's nothing new and nothing to be concerned about."

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Deep-water seaweed drifts ashore to Pinellas beaches