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3 To Know: RSW passenger traffic soars, Dollar Tree to increase max price, more

Marco Eagle

1. RSW passenger traffic soars – only one February busier in airport's history

One thing you can count on this time of year: Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) is going to be busy with passengers going from and coming to Southwest Florida.

Busy security checkpoints at RSW have caused the Lee County Port Authority to studying the feasibility of expanding the passenger terminal to accommodate one, bi consolidated TSA checkpoint operation with at least 14 lanes. Between 10:30 and 11:30 am on Wednesday is a busy time at the airport. Passengers scramble to one of three checkpoints, lines were slow but moved along, TSA K9 Teams helped move people through security too.

February's passenger numbers at RSW provide more evidence that people are coming to Southwest Florida in droves. The Lee County Port Authority (LCPA) reports that 1,223,761 passengers traveled through RSW. It was an increase of 26 percent compared to February 2023 (967,416 total passengers).

It was also the second busiest February in the airport's history. In February 2020 1,241,590 passengers were counted. – Mark H. Bickel/The News-Press

2. Dollar Tree to increase max price in stores to $7

Discount retail giant Dollar Tree said that it would raise the price cap in its stores to $7 in its fourth quarter earnings call earlier this month.

“This year, across 3,000 stores, we expect to expand our multi-price assortment by over 300 items at price points ranging from $1.50 to $7,” Dollar Tree CEO Rick Dreiling said in the call on March 13.

A $5 cap was set in June, according to Yahoo Finance. In 2021 the company raised the base price of items to $1.25.

The higher cost items will include food, pet and personal care items, though not all items will be at the $7 price cap.

Dollar Tree executives said on the call that the demographics of their customers trended towards higher income brackets. – James Powel, Anthony Robledo/USA TODAY

3. Florida is one of the top states for lightning in latest report

Last year, the U.S. saw a total lightning count of over 242 million bolts, with Florida seeing a significant amount of those strikes.

A 30 second exposure of heat lightning in the clouds rolling in over the Banana River and the Thousand Islands in Cocoa Beach after dusk.

Vaisala Xweather released its Annual Lightning Report, detailing the effects of lightning across the globe and the most lightning-prone U.S. metropolitan areas.

According to Vaisala, Florida ranked second in lightning count, seeing over 19 million events last year. With 42,388,860 lightning events in total, Texas had more lightning than any other state in 2023.

When measuring lightning density, however, Florida takes the number one spot with 112.6 lightning events per square kilometer.

With 120,998 counts, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area was deemed by Vaisala as the most lightning-prone area in the U.S. When counting lightning strokes per square kilometer, five metropolitan areas in Florida ranked highest for lightning risk in 2023: Miami–Fort Lauderdale, Palm Bay–Melbourne, Cape Coral, Orlando and Jacksonville. – Samantha Neely/USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida

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