Downtown Fort Myers copes with heat advisory

The Sunshine State is living up to its name. On Thursday, Florida was under a heat advisory for most of the day.

“Sun. Sun. Yes, the sun, it’s really hot,” said Justine White and her son Mandell Smith while they were on their way to the ice cream shop.

“It is pretty miserable. It is very excruciatingly hot,” said Kayla Tacker, a woman who works at a tattoo shop in downtown Fort Myers.

Welcome to the Dog Days of Summer in Southwest Florida. The blazing August heat turned parts of downtown into a ghost town. But it’s Summer in Florida, what did you expect?

“You definitely keep some of the heat inside your shirts if you have long sleeves, but as Floridians, you kinda just deal with it,” said Tyler Evans, who lives in North Fort Myers.

Even if you expect it, the heat in downtown was brutal on Thursday afternoon.

The National Weather Service said the heat index could reach 111 degrees in parts of Southwest Florida on Thursday.

“We live in Florida,” said Tacker. “We get that humidity to make it feel like we are in a hot box.”

My favorite way to beat the heat is with some ice cream. But it’s also important to remember you have to stay hydrated. Here is how others living in Southwest Florida are staying cool with scorching temperatures outside.

“I wet sweat-resistant shirts, then put them on and ride. It keeps me cool, but you gotta drink water,” said Jeremy Woolfork, a man who works in downtown Fort Myers.

“We like to go to the pool a lot. We try to find inside activities,” said White. “And if it doesnt’ have air conditioning we aren’t going.”

Even when there isn’t a heat advisory, it doesn’t mean the risks have evaporated. It’s important to know your symptoms of heat exhaustion and stroke.

Click here to learn the warning signs of heat stroke.