LOCAL EDITION — Fort Myers, Southwest Florida

Climate isn't a debate here. It's the water temperature this afternoon.

Where Lake Okeechobee meets the Gulf — and where warming water, algae and sea level land on the same coastline. We publish what the instruments say — updated continuously, sourced to the agency that recorded it.

Today's local brief

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Automatically generated from live public data — not written reporting. Sources listed below each section.

Today's climate stories

Three or more stories every day, curated from climate and energy newsrooms and delivered in the ClimateNews Daily Signal.

Hunter Valley community group wins landmark high court climate change case over Mount Pleasant coalmineRuling on Mount Pleasant coalmine shows ‘we cannot continue to dig up coal … and pretend the consequences have nothing to do with us’, group saysGet our breakinAustralia faces summer of extreme weather, Anthony Albanese warns at pre-CopPrime minister tells delegates in Tuvalu and Fiji that ‘super El Niño’ brewing in the Pacific shows climate change is ‘here right now’Anthony Albanese has warneWhat happens when climate despair turns into action?A 10-step support program helps people acknowledge the severity of climate change, sit with uncertainty, and build the resilience to make a difference.US households pay 62% more for water than they did a decade ago, study findsFor-profit water corporations, federal cuts and climate crisis are ‘supercharging water rate hikes’, study co-author saysUS households are paying 62% more for dSupreme Court wrestles with who should pay for climate changeThe Supreme Court's decision on a Colorado lawsuit against ExxonMobil and Suncor could shape dozens of efforts to make fossil fuel companies pay for climate damThe Great Plains face a surprising threat: Too many treesTrees are usually seen as climate heroes. But across the Plains states, "woody encroachment" is crowding out the prairie.
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Right now in Fort Myers

Live readings from NOAA's Fort Myers station and state lab sampling. These are the numbers that decide whether the water is pleasant, profitable or dangerous this week.

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Sources: NOAA Tides & Currents station 8725520 · Florida DEP Algal Bloom Sampling · live spill map at EcoBoard.com · current conditions for the whole coast at EarthPortal.com

Active warnings

National Weather Service alerts currently in effect for Southwest Florida.

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Source: NOAA National Weather Service

Why we report this locally

Because the costs are local, measurable and already here — in emergency rooms, in tourism receipts and on the end of a leash.

Economic
$2.7B
Tourism losses from the 2018 red tide statewide — about $1.27B of it in Southwest Florida.
UCF Rosen College study, via SCCF
Economic
$5.3B
What a single harmful algal bloom could cost Lee County in lost recreation and quality of life.
Greene Economics, via The Invading Sea
Health
ER visits
Peer-reviewed research documents increased emergency room admissions for respiratory illness during Florida red tides.
Kirkpatrick et al., Harmful Algae (NIH)
Health
Pets
Dogs drink while swimming and ingest more grooming algae off their fur. Some cyanotoxins act within minutes. Keep pets out of blooms.
Live toxin results at EcoBoard.com

Get the local climate brief

A short email when the measurements change in a way that matters — water warm enough to drive blooms, toxins detected nearby, sea level or severe weather events. Free, and you can stop anytime.