Lee County is in the heat advisory after all: the Tampa Bay office extended its Levy product at 7.45 a.m. to add both Lee zones, on the same noon to 7 p.m. window Collier already carried.
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Lee County is under a heat advisory on Thursday, August 13, running from noon to 7 p.m., with a forecast heat index of up to 109.
It was not under one this morning. Shortly after half past two, both Lee zones were queried directly and both returned nothing active, and the National Weather Service office in Tampa Bay Ruskin, which covers Lee, had written its only Florida heat advisory of the day around Coastal and Inland Levy, roughly a hundred and fifty miles up the Gulf coast.
At 7.45 a.m. that office extended the Levy advisory rather than writing a new one. The product now carries twenty-two zones, including Coastal Lee and Inland Lee, alongside Pinellas, Polk, Hardee, Highlands, DeSoto, Sumter and the coastal and inland zones of Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Hillsborough, Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte.
The advisory's own code records the change. Its tracking string carries the action EXA, meaning extended in area, on event number 0013, which is the same event number the Levy advisory carried before dawn. The valid time block is unchanged, which is why the hours did not move when the map did.
Its headline reads that the advisory is in effect from noon today to 7 p.m. this evening. The description gives heat index values up to 109 and describes the area as portions of southwest and west central Florida. The product is rated moderate in severity and likely in certainty, and it expires at 7 p.m.
Collier County remains where it was. Both Collier zones were re-queried on the same pass and both still return the Miami office's separate advisory, issued at 1.42 a.m., forecasting an index of 105 to 110 on the identical noon to 7 p.m. window.
The two counties move independently because Lee falls under the Tampa Bay Ruskin forecast office and Collier falls under Miami, and each writes its heat products on its own event numbers without reference to the other. On Tuesday the position was the reverse of Thursday morning, with Lee inside an advisory and forecasting an index of up to 109 on the same hours.
The instruction attached to the Lee advisory is the service's own: drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors.
