Many Pinellas County business owners and workers say they are ready to welcome snowbirds and vacation-seeking visitors.

No matter where you are in South Florida, it’s never that far from the Everglades. Yet it takes someone like painter Magnus Sodamin to capture the famous ecosystem at its peak of beauty.

In some areas, spotters are also encouraged to report on other dangerous weather phenomena, for example widespread damaging winds. Storm spotters are volunteers recruited from the ranks of weather ...