Fort Myers matched a record for an Aug. 17 high with a temperature of 97 degrees and a whopping 108 degree heat index.
Those conditions can be dangerous, and even deadly for people who work outside or who don’t have proper air conditioning.
Highs in the upper 90s will be constant for the rest of the week, according to the latest National Weather Service forecast.
There will be little cloud cover and no chance of rain until the afternoon of Aug. 19.
But it’s not nearly as bad as the northern part of the Sunshine State, which is expected to see upwards of 115-degree heat index on Aug. 18, according to NWS reports.
“We’ve had high pressure over us, and the lack of rain is really driving our temperatures up,” said NWS meteorologist Rodney Wynn, who is based in Ruskin. “We usually get the showers (in the summer) and if we warm up to around average at 2 p.m., then we get showers and that cools us down for the day.”
But when we don’t get showers, or cloud cover, daily highs climb those extra few degrees, sometimes triggering a heat advisory.
NWS in Ruskin covers the Fort Myers-Sanibel area, and it uses a heat index of 108 degrees before releasing a public heat advisory.
Odd summer playing out as Florida is very hot, dry
Summers are always hot here, at least it certainly feels that way.
The combination of highs in the 90s and a lack of cloud cover, though, has kept this region relatively dry this summer.
Winds have often flowed from the west or southwest this so far this summer, a pattern that blows rainy clouds away from the west coast and toward inland areas.
During the summer, we typically see winds out of the southeast.
That type of flow will bring moisture that’s over the Atlantic Ocean and push it toward this coast in the historic summertime pattern.
“That’s the more typical pattern that sets up for our afternoon and evening showers,” Wynn said.
NWS in Miami area covers the Naples-Marco Island area, and it’s calling for similar conditions this week in Collier County.
“For Collier County the heat advisory criteria is 108 degrees but for areas further east, it’s slightly lower at 105 degrees,” said Nico Porcelli, a meteorologist with NWS in Miami.
Twenty-one heat advisories have been issued for Collier County so far this year, Porcelli said.
“It’s not that uncommon for this time of year,” Porcelli said. “Climatologically, August is our hottest time of year. And today we have heat indexes across the board where we’re at that point.”
The heat will continue the rest of this week, although conditions will be a few degrees cooler.
It may not feel like it, though, as the heat index is forecast to be in the triple digits for the foreseeable future.
History says it will still be hot on Halloween
The fall months can also be a hot and miserable time to be in south Florida.
While most of the rest of the country starts to cool off in the next few weeks, the heat may linger here until November.
This might be the most miserable time of year for some Floridians as fall has arrived by the conditions are still miserable.
“In October we start to get cold fronts, and we can get cooler air in the later parts of October,” Wynn said.
Highs on Halloween in the Fort Myers area are still around 90 degrees on Halloween, according to historical NWS records that stretch back to 1902.
El Nino winter could mean more rain, cold fronts
A strong El Nino is in place, which is one reason we have seen less activity in the tropics so far this summer.
First described by South American fishermen in the 1800s, El Nino is part of the El Nino-La Nina effect that occurs from changing surficial temperatures along the equatorial Pacific Ocean.
“El Nino is going to effect the remainder of the hurricane season for the Atlantic and that decreases the development of storms, but you could see stronger cold fronts move through the southeast United States this winter,” Wynn said.
El Nino occurs when waters there are warmer than average, and La Nina is the opposite of the cycle as it comes into play when Pacific equatorial temperatures are lower than average.
Besides impacting the tropical storm and hurricane season, El Nino also tends to bring stronger, more frequent cold fronts.
That combination typically means south Floridians can expect a winter and dry season that is cooler than average with above-average rainfall.
Drought conditions likely through end of the rainy season
The latest National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, drought index shows most of Florida still being in some form of drought.
Coastal Lee County includes areas like Sanibel Island and Fort Myers Beach, and those places are still in a severe drought, according to NOAA’s Aug. 13 forecast.
Collier County is split between abnormally dry, moderate and severe drought, with the drier conditions occurring inland.
NOAA says Southwest Florida needs around 32 inches of rain over the next 90 days to climb out of the drought.
That much rain would be about 150% of what Hurricane Ian produced here in 2022.
The only problem with that is rains historically stop on or around Oct. 15.
Chad Gillis is an environment reporter and can be reached by email at cgillis@news-press.co
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This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Heat index of 108 degrees causes NWS to issue heat advisory for Naples
Reporting by Chad Gillis, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News / Fort Myers News-Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Chad Gillis, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News | USA TODAY Network
