Cedar Key · Levy County · The Nature Coast
The Nature Coast, north central Florida and the statewide decisions, storms and agencies that reach this shore.
A rare early-fall cold front is dropping humidity and temperatures across Florida this weekend, but the coastal flooding risk it carries stays on the state's east side, not here.
Tropical Storm Gonzalo formed far off Africa this week, extending an unusually quiet Atlantic season that has yet to produce a hurricane past its historic peak.
Updated meteorological guidance drops the 'lightning crouch' and sharpens the 30-30 rule, with real stakes for anyone working the water or the docks during Florida's afternoon storm season.
The Atlantic's sixth named storm poses no threat to the Gulf Coast, but forecasters say the unusually inactive season is not over yet.
A flesh-eating parasite not seen in a U.S. horse since the 1960s has surfaced in Texas, and state agriculture officials say Florida's climate could support it if it arrives.
Florida's 2026 black bear hunt applications are open, with Marion County's Ocala National Forest again at the center of a fight over lethal management that has echoes for wildlife policy statewide.
A mid-week cold front promises drier air and cooler mornings for the Big Bend, but forecasters warn of gusty winds and building seas before it arrives.
Applications for Florida's black bear hunt lottery are open through Sept. 21, reviving a fight over conservation, cruelty and who gets a say in wildlife policy across the state, including bear country near the Nature Coast.
Explosives-detection dog Beamer, named for Flight 93 passenger Todd Beamer, hangs up her leash at Gainesville Regional Airport, a hub many Levy County travelers use.
Forecasters give a central Atlantic disturbance low odds of development, and even if it grows into Fay, steering patterns point it away from Florida.
A strengthening El Niño has kept storms from strengthening into hurricanes this year, but forecasters and this coast's own history say the quiet won't last through the season.
Daniel Conahan Jr.'s death by lethal injection marks the 15th Florida execution this year, part of a statewide pace that outstrips the record set in 2025.
House Bill 851 mandates autism-specific training for every Florida school district each year; a UF-Alachua County partnership offers one model for how districts might meet it.
A unanimous vote by Florida's university governing board will close enrollment to undocumented students starting in 2027-2028, a rule that reaches the University of Florida, the closest public university for many Levy County students.
A University of Florida class project on lightning, the top cause of weather deaths in the state, took a national student journalism prize; a companion project on ecotourism's limits placed as runner-up.
A Level 1 flash-flood risk, saturated ground and a Saturday Heat Advisory will shape outdoor plans across the Nature Coast through Labor Day.
New NWS figures showing five Florida lightning deaths this year carry direct weight for boaters, anglers and beachgoers along Cedar Key and the Nature Coast.
A WUFT weather report on Florida's 'shark bite capital' focuses on the Atlantic coast, but the conservation math behind it applies to sharks in Nature Coast waters as well.
A Venezuelan mother and son released after two weeks in a Texas detention center highlight a rising arrest rate and a Gainesville Police order that could shape how officers across north central Florida handle immigration status.
A new Board of Governors regulation reaching every Florida public university, including UF, will set safety and enrollment rules that touch Levy County students long before any campus incident occurs.
A University of Florida Sea Grant post on seagrass ecology doesn't mention Cedar Key by name, but the fisheries and monitoring program it describes run straight through the Nature Coast's grass flats.
A new Florida Sea Grant post on statewide seagrass habitat and its citizen-science monitoring program points to the underwater meadows that sustain Cedar Key's fisheries and scalloping.
Dorothy L. Zimmerman helped translate the science behind oyster collapses, algal blooms and seafood safety rules that shaped programs still used along the Nature Coast.
A Florida Highway Patrol report says a sedan failed to yield at a stop sign on CR 340, sending the crash into the path of a northbound tractor-trailer on US 129.
A new University of Florida tagging project offers a $250 reward for reported catches, but it targets Atlantic red snapper, a separate stock from the Gulf fish caught off Cedar Key.
A new NSF-funded UF project will use artificial intelligence to model how land-use and climate changes affect water and carbon systems statewide, with no Cedar Key-specific application yet named.
A free UF/IFAS tool merges three older apps into one guide for choosing plants that fit local soil, sun and water conditions - useful for anyone gardening near the Gulf.
The National Hurricane Center's twice-daily outlook shows a quiet Atlantic basin heading into the season's historical peak, even as forecasters track development elsewhere in the Pacific.
Brian S. Brijbag, who has had plays staged off-Broadway and abroad, premieres "One Seat Over" at Stage West Playhouse on 22 August, the anchor of the theatre's New Works Festival on the Nature Coast.
The National Hurricane Center's latest outlook shows a quiet Atlantic even as the calendar turns toward the season's historic peak.
NOAA is holding to a below-normal 2026 season. Cedar Key’s three worst storms in living memory all arrived in the back half of the calendar, and the back half starts now.
The Suwannee River Water Management District lists every permit it grants, with the project name, the county and the full application. It is also where the objection window opens.
The Great Southeast Pollinator Census runs on 21 and 22 August. UF/IFAS wants all 67 counties taking part this year, Levy County included.
The National Weather Service forecast for Cedar Key and Levy County, with any watches or warnings in force.
