Post BP Spill Suggestions
 

I'd like to find somewhere to go in late January that will be warm. I'd like to support communities that were hit by the BP spill, and might have suffered from drops in tourism, but are nonetheless perfectly nice now. Just some beach relaxtion- I'm fine to swim in a pool, but need to see the ocean (I'm from the Ocean State, but living in Michigan)- ok if we can't go in.
Ideas?

The only reliably warm place is southern Florida, which was relatively unaffected by the spill. While Alabama and Mississippi are certainly warmer than Michigan, daytime temps in the 50s and possibly 40s don't do it for me. I lived in Baton Rouge for several years, and I found late January to be pretty nippy ... not uncomfortable but certainly not what I'd call reliably warm. The parts of the coast that were most affected were southern Louisiana, southern Alabama and Mississippi, and the Florida Panhandle. Now it tends to be warmer in southern Texas, but that area was also relatively unaffected by the spill.

I've been on the MS gulf coast at Christmastime in the past, and while not sunbathing weather, it's a warm and nice reprieve from a Northeast winter. FWIW, my mother was just down there for the holiday and enjoyed temps in the 80's. It was her first time back there since pre-Katrina, and she said rebuilding is occurring at a furious pace, with many large new homes where she was in Pass Christian.

That said, I've heard that tourism on the west coast of FL has also been adversely affected by the oil spill news, so maybe you can find a place there?

Weather Underground has a nice section with historical weather data, so you could plug in a location and time of year to see what you can expect there...
http://www.wunderground.com/history/

I'm in Naples -- way at the south end of the Gulf Coast. Essentially the oil spill didn't affect us -- nothing happened to the beaches or the wildlife. But the truth is Naples, like most gulf coast locations took a huge hit from the spill. Why? Because thousands of tourists (including the usual masses of them who come from Europe every summer) didn't show up. Many of them assumed that the beaches were covered with oil so they went elsewhere. Many locals here have actually been able to file claims and receive compensation due to the loss of income as a result of the spill.

Thanks for the input.