The year is 1996.
Heavy rains wash record amounts of nutrients off the land and into the Bay.
Algae concentrations hit record highs in the spring. Then came the first six months of 1998. Flows into the Bay passed the record set only two years before for the same period. To some, those events may be history. But to others, they may be a glimpse of the future - a slightly warmer, but much wetter period that could be in store for the region as a consequence of global climate change.