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Florida in Focus: Climate Change News

A network of newsrooms across the state, including the Tampa Bay Times, have banded together to track the impacts of climate change.

  1. 90% of Floridians believe climate change is real, study finds
    Oct. 25• Environment
    St. Petersburg Fire and Rescue responds to a call of a fire in a house on a flooded street in Shore Acres in the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia on Aug. 31 in St. Petersburg.
  2. Archaeologists diving into Florida’s past find lessons about adapting to sea rise
    Oct. 15• Environment
    Archaeologist Neil Puckett swims with a mastodon bone he dug up from the bottom of the Aucilla River.
  3. Climate change could bring stronger, earlier hurricanes, study finds. What about in Florida?
    Oct. 10• Hurricane
    This satellite imagery from earlier this hurricane season reveals that tropical Storms Philippe and Rina are less than 500 miles from each other. A new study finds that hurricanes are strengthening earlier in the hurricane season than in previous decades.
  5. Planning for a hurricane like Idalia started nearly a year ago at the Times
    Sept. 3• Hurricane
    The first drone photos of Florida's Horseshoe Beach in the Big Bend area show it was inundated.
  6. Tampa’s tree canopy is shrinking. Can anyone save it for the shade?
    Aug. 29• Tampa
    Sherri Mullis, left, the head of Tampa's Tree-mendous program, and Sirlewis Bailey, of Pine Lakes Nursery & Landscape, plant a Florida maple tree near the 3400 block of West Cherokee Avenue on Aug. 23 in Tampa.
  7. Wishing you had more shade? Florida’s heat takes uneven toll.
    Aug. 22• Tampa
    An aerial view on West Gray Street near North Archer Street looking west toward North Himes Avenue, where there are very few large shade trees on July 6 in Tampa. At right, Benjamin Brown heads back to his home after taking his recycling bin out to the curb.
  8. Wildfires have raged across the continent this year. Is Florida safe?
    Aug. 18• Environment
    Aerial view of a wildfire in the Indian Lake Estate subdivision near Lake Wales in April 2017. Dozens of firefighters battled the 700+ acre wildfire saving dozens of homes with fire approaching within feet of the houses. Fire officials evacuated the hundreds of residents in the subdivision but lifted the evacuation order. LUIS SANTANA | Times
  9. Miami has a chief heat officer. Here’s how she helps people cope with this hot summer.
    Aug. 16• Local Weather
    Jane Gilbert, pictured, is the first chief heat officer in the world and focuses on reducing the stress of extreme heat on vulnerable communities in Miami-Dade County. The position was created in 2021, after Miami-Dade received a grant offer from the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center.
  10. The Gulf of Mexico is record hot. Here’s what that means for hurricanes, wildlife.
    Aug. 15• Environment
    An aerial drone view of the Gulf of Mexico looking north on Treasure Island Beach on Tuesday in Pinellas County. Water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico, including in the Tampa Bay area, are hotter than any time in recorded history.
  11. Hillsborough County solar project tries to lower startup costs for residents
    Aug. 15• Environment
    Doug Nelson, a self-proclaimed "solar nerd," poses for a portrait in front of solar panels that were installed at his residence in Valrico.
  12. What’s polluting Tampa Bay’s water? A new study maps its ‘nutrient fingerprint’
    Aug. 3• Environment
    Downtown Tampa is pictured from the Hillsborough River during testing of sites on the Hillsborough River as part of the Nutrient Fingerprint Project to trace the origins of nutrient pollution.
  13. Florida celebrates sea level rise planning tool after years ‘behind the curve’
    Feb. 18, 2021• Environment
    The new St. Pete Pier is shown under construction in late 2019.
  14. Uncertain future for Apalachicola, Ocklawaha, Shark River Slough
    Jan. 1, 2021• Environment
    Portions of Tamiami Trail are being raised on extensive bridging to allow more of Shark River Slough to flow into Everglades National Park. But old, original portions of Tamiami Trail roadbed must still be removed to allow more slough water to flow into the park. Armando Vilaboy, government-relations representative for the South Florida Water Management District, visited areas where slough water is escaping across the old roadbed as a preview of a much larger flow to come. [Kevin Spear | Orlando Sentinel]
  15. Bridges over Shark River Slough are restoring water flow into Everglades
    Dec. 31, 2020• Environment
    Erik Stabenau, on left and leaning forward, and Damon Rondeau, driving the park service airpboat, are supervisory hydrologists with Everglades National Park. The provided a tour of Shark River Slough, observing Tamiami Trail bridging and water-monitoring stations. [Kevin Spear | Orlando Sentinel]
  16. Weeds block free flow of Ocklawaha River from Silver Springs to St. Johns River
    Dec. 30, 2020• Environment
    Inspecting a boat ramp at the Ocklawaha River’s Rodman Reservoir are Jennifer Carr, president of the Florida Defenders of the Environment, and her daughter, Carmen, and the group’s executive director Jim Gross. Rodman Reservoir is plagued by a chronic growth of muck and floating weeds, as seen here at the boat ramp. Weeds have engulfed the ramp and dock. [Kevin Spear | Orlando Sentinel.]
  17. Crippled Apalachicola River leaves wetland forests in peril, famous oysters extinct
    Dec. 29, 2020• Environment
    Georgia Ackerman, director of the Apalachicola Riverkeeper group, ventures into the river’s final section near Apalachicola Bay. [Kevin Spear | Orlando Sentinel]
  18. Race to save 3 Florida treasures: Time running out for Apalachicola River, Ocklawaha River and Shark River Slough | Part 1
    Dec. 28, 2020• Environment
    Jennifer Carr, president of the Florida Defenders of the Environment, stands at Rodman Dam along the Ocklawaha River with her daughter, Carmen. [Kevin Spear | Orlando Sentinel]
  19. Florida media coalition receives grant for climate change work
    Nov. 12, 2020• Environment
    Lemay Acosta and his daughter Layla, 2, take a boat ride in his flooded neighborhood in Plantation a day after Tropical Storm Eta made landfall in the Florida Keys and flooded parts of South Florida on Monday.
  20. A melting sculpture at ZooTampa spreads message about climate change
    Sept. 18, 2020• Life & Culture
    "Melting Panthers," a biodegradable wax sculpture out to melt at Zoo Tampa to highlight the threat of climate change and raise awareness, on Friday, Sept. 18, 2020 in Tampa.
  21. World not meeting biodiversity goals, UN report finds
    Sept. 15, 2020• Environment
    Fish swim in a reef at Pearl and Hermes Atoll on Sept. 6, 2017, in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. A decade-long effort by the world to save the planet’s disappearing species and declining ecosystems has so far mostly failed, with fragile ecosystems like coral reefs and tropical forests in even more trouble than ever, according to a United Nations biodiversity report released on Sept. 15.
  22. Climate, COVID-19 blamed for Southern Africa’s hunger upsurge
    Sept. 7, 2020• Nation & World
    A woman jumps over water that runs down a street on Aug. 17 in Harare, Zimbabwe. An estimated 45 million people in Southern Africa are food insecure. Zimbabwe is the worst affected country, with its number of food insecure people expected to reach 8.6 million by the end of this year.
  23. Windstorm premiums are soaring in Florida again
    June 30, 2020• Hurricane
    Clint Moore, 62, walks away from the ruins of his family-owned shrimping business in Simmons Bayou, Florida, eight days after Hurricane Michael devastated the area, leaving hundreds of thousands without shelter, power and food.
  24. Tampa studies how to make its stormwater system handle rising seas
    March 16, 2020• Tampa
    Traffic moves through some street flooding near Edison Ave and Bayshore Blvd. as severe storms reach the area in April 2019.
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