ALVA Woodpeckers build home in woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
NAPLES Naples youth flag football team to compete in Ohio tournament This weekend, the Naples Lunatics Green will compete in the Superhero Sports tournament in Canton, Ohio.
ALVA Woodpeckers build home in woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
NAPLES Naples youth flag football team to compete in Ohio tournament This weekend, the Naples Lunatics Green will compete in the Superhero Sports tournament in Canton, Ohio.
Beachgoers wade in the ocean at Crandon Park, Friday, July 28, 2023 in Key Biscayne, Fla. Humans naturally look to water for a chance to refresh, but when water temperatures get too high, some of the appeal is lost. (AP Photo/ Rebecca Blackwell) In the sweltering summer heat, nobody tries to cool off by jumping into a hot tub. In parts of Florida, however, that’s what the ocean has felt like. Earlier this week, sea surface temperatures reached as high as 101.2 degrees Fahrenheit (38.4 degrees Celsius) around the state’s southern tip in Manatee Bay, according to the National Weather Service — although scientists said the context for Monday’s reading is complicated. “It was like there was no difference between humidity of the air and going into the water,” said Chelsea Ward of Fort Myers, Florida. Triple-digit ocean temperatures are stunning even in Florida, where residents are used to the heat and where many retirees find refuge from cold, northern winters. Several other nearby spots reached the mid-90s (about 35 Celsius). A storm finally came through on Wednesday, helping water temperatures drop back down in to the more temperate 80s (about 29 Celsius). Humans naturally look to water for a chance to refresh. Every summer, millions grab their swimsuits for a day on the beach and a chance to cool off in the water — a break from everyday work and worry. Pools offer the same relief and a place for friends to gather. But when water temperatures get too high, some of the appeal is lost. Ward, 47, doesn’t keep her beach bag in her car anymore even though she lives minutes away from the beach in Fort Myers. Lately, the water is just too hot. On Sunday, when her friend asked if she wanted to go to the beach, the two decided against it after discovering the water temperature was around 90 degrees (32 degrees Celsius). When it’s hot, the body cools down by sweating, which evaporates and releases heat. Dipping into the ocean is typically so refreshing because heat efficiently transfers from your body into the water. But as water temperatures climb, that effect diminishes and you lose less heat less quickly, according to Michael Mullins, a Washington University toxicologist and emergency medicine physician at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. A hot tub — or a stretch of ocean water hotter than body temperature — reverses the transfer of heat into your body. That’s not a pleasant experience on a sizzling, humid, Florida day. “It would feel,” Mullins said, “like you are swimming in soup.” People already tend not to swim that much in the Florida waters that were so extremely hot earlier this week. The water can get muddy and there are alligators and crocodiles in the area, too. But high temperatures anywhere can make swimming less pleasant. Through Friday, Phoenix endured highs above 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius) every day this month. Pools are warm. About 150 miles (240 kilometers) to the northwest in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, Stefanee Lynn Thompson, 50, wanted to keep guests cool for a pool party she hosted Sunday. The heat had raised the pool’s temperature to 96 degrees (36 Celsius). Her friend recommended she go buy ice blocks. She ran to the grocery store, picked up 40 of them and dumped them in the pool. She set up fans, too. All that hard work dropped the pool’s temperature a grand total of 4 degrees Fahrenheit (2.2 degrees Celsius). “When it’s 120 out, anything helps,” Thompson said. Recently, ocean temperatures off the western coast of Florida have been a few degrees above normal, sitting around 88 to 90 degrees (31-32 degrees Celsius). It’s not just humans that suffer when the oceans warm. Sea corals are bleaching. They can be hurt when water temperatures rise above the upper 80s (low 30 degrees Celsius). July has been so hot that scientists announced a global heat record even before the month ended. Climate change is creating a hotter world, warming oceans and making some storms more destructive. Sea surface temperatures are somewhat above average around Florida, but they are far higher in parts of the North Atlantic near Newfoundland where they are as much as 9 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius) hotter than usual. The extremely high sea surface temperatures recorded earlier this week off Florida’s southern tip were caused by lots of sun, little wind and no storms. “I’ve never seen temperatures 100 degrees in Florida Bay in the 21 years I’ve been in the Keys,” said Andy Devanas, science officer at the National Weather Service in Key West, Florida. And there are some questions about how representative Monday’s 101.2-degree reading in Manatee Bay were. Water there is shallow and thus heats up quickly. If there’s lots of sediment, that can raise temperatures, too, according to David Roth, a forecaster with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center. By contrast, stop by the YMCA pools on the North Shore of Massachusetts near Boston and you’ll descend into water that’s around 78 to 80 degrees (26 to 27 degrees Celsius). The ocean nearby is cooler, too. Sea surface temperatures off Cape Cod, for example, barely touched the mid-70s (about 24 degrees Celsius) this week. When Maria Argueta, 38, has time off from her job at an open-air decorative plant nursery in Homestead, Florida, she’ll go with her family to swim. “This year, the heat is stronger,” she said. The hot ocean water doesn’t bother her, but sometimes she takes her 2-year-old son and other members of the family to the Venetian Pool, a public facility in Coral Gables fed by water from an aquifer that’s always in the 70s. The very cool water, she said, is refreshing. Florida’s humid weather makes it harder for sweat to evaporate and cool the body down. People in south Florida know the ocean doesn’t tend to offer real relief from that suffocating heat. “You aren’t getting much cooling at all,” Roth said. “Nobody goes into the water in South Florida in the summer really except to swim, because it is comfortable to swim, but it is not refreshing.”