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A drought is a prolonged period with little to no rainfall, leading to water shortages in a region. The air temperature can be hot or cold. A heat wave is usually just a few days of air temperatures far warmer than expected in a region during any given time of year. The air can contain a lot of moisture, and be humid, or just the opposite, described as "dry heat." Whatever the characteristics of the heat wave, it can worsen the impacts of a drought due to increased heat stress and a greater water demand. Despite a shorter-term duration, a heat wave can compound the bad things about a drought and cause more harm to man and the environment.

Warm temperatures in store after heat dome parked over worst drought in Florida in 25 years

New research discovered an existing drought, like the one in South Florida since January, can lengthen heat waves, like the one parked over Florida, a North Carolina weather researcher found.

South Trail firefighter/EMT identified as victim of explosion, fire at his San Carlos Park home

The victim of a house explosion and fire in San Carlos Park Wednesday morning has been identified as South Trail Fire Department firefighter and EMT Mike McCarty.

Naomi Pascal holding Teddy during a hike in 2020.

A girl lost her teddy bear at Glacier National Park. A year later, it's back home

After 5-year-old Naomi Pascal lost her beloved stuffed animal during a hike, her family wasn't sure it would ever turn up again. One park ranger's kind heart changed that.

The new visitor center at the Everglades City entrance to the Everglades National Park is named after Marjory Stoneman Douglas, who spent decades fighting for the River of Grass at a time when draining it was considered progress. She opened her 1947 book, "The Everglades: River of Grass," with seven words that still hold: "There are no other Everglades in the world." Her advocacy continued until she died in 1998 at age 108

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Visitor Center is now open at Everglades City entrance to Everglades National Park

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Visitor Center is both the new gateway into Everglades National Park and the final sign that Everglades City has recovered from a devastating blow from Hurricane Irma nearly nine years ago

A fired national park ranger lost his dream job. He says the public is losing more

Brian Gibbs was an environmental educator at Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa. His job was among those nixed by the Trump administration as it pushes to shrink federal spending.

Claudette Colvin arrives outside juvenile court to file paperwork to have her juvenile record expunged, Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021, in Montgomery, Ala. A judge on Thursday, Dec. 16, has approved a request to wipe clean the court record of Colvin, who was arrested for refusing to move to the back of a segregated Alabama bus in 1955.

She refused to move bus seats months before Rosa Parks. At 82, her arrest is expunged

Claudette Colvin was 15 when she was arrested for refusing to move to the back of a segregated Alabama bus in 1955. After 66 years, a judge has approved her request to clear her record.

After gutting local newspapers, hedge fund Alden Global is going after mobile home parks

Scott Simon speaks to journalist Julie Reynolds about hedge fund Alden Global Capital's purchase of several mobile home parks and its eviction of many of their low-income residents.

The morning sun illuminates the Grand Tetons at Grand Teton National Park, north of Jackson Hole, Wyo., Aug 26, 2016. A grizzly bear that attacked a hiker in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park won't be captured or killed by wildlife authorities because it may have been trying to protect a cub, park officials said in a statement Tuesday.

Self-inflicted hit of pepper spray drives off an attacking grizzly in Grand Teton National Park

While mauling a hiker on Signal Mountain, the grizzly bit into the man's can of bear repellent and fled. The Massachusetts man, who'd pretended to be dead while he was being bitten, made it to safety.

Some residents who remain at Harmony Shores Mobile Home Port in Naples have been living in carports since Hurricane Ian tore through in September. Cove Communities, the owner of Harmony, purchased the community in June 2021. Located just south of where U.S. Highway 41 and Bayshore Drive intersect, Harmony’s docks sit on the east side of Naples Bay.

Uncertainty remains at Naples mobile home park after rent rise, damage wrought by Hurricane Ian

Naples mobile home residents feel helpless as community moves forward with post-hurricane rebuild.

Despite dozens of samples taken along the coast of Southwest Florida, red tide was only discovered in very low background levels off the coast of Lee, Collier, and Monroe counties

Blue-green algae at North Shore Park spurs health alert; red tide stays away

We'll update this page regularly with the latest information about any algal blooms in Southwest Florida that could be harmful.

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