A family of three appeared to be struck by lightning at St. Pete Beach on Friday afternoon, according to fire officials.

Hurricane Helene has been approaching Florida’s Gulf Coast while it continues to strengthen, prompting coastal communities to brace for impact.

Several of Florida's beaches ranked high in popularity on social media sites like Instagram and TikTok, according to a recent study.

August 30 is National Beach Day and Central Floridians live in a prime spot to take advantage of this toes-in-the-sand holiday.

Officials say a sheriff deputy ran over a woman who was lying on the sand in a Florida beach as he was driving to check on a 911 hangup call.

Hurricane experts were closely watching the Caribbean, where Tropical Storm Iota formed Friday afternoon. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Iota could bring dangerous wind, storm surge and as much as 30 inches (76 centimeters) of rainfall to northern Nicaragua and Honduras. The storm was located about 350 miles (560 kilometers) south-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica and had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph). Iota is a record-setting 30th named storm of this year’s extraordinarily busy Atlantic hurricane season. I want to be back on the water, (my dog) wants to be back on the water.”Eta was the 28th named storm of this year's hurricane season, tying the 2005 record for named storms.