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Hot off the presses form our friends at the Orlando Sentinel.
Wouldn't want to be driving in the sunshine state if they have icy roads. Something tells me they don't have a lot of salt truck.
Farmers, Floridians brace with state under freeze warning
Menacing cold prompts the governor to declare a state of emergency.
From Staff and Wire reports
1:31 PM EST, January 2, 2008
All of Florida, from Miami to the Panhandle and across Central Florida, was under a freeze warning today as 2008 started with a quick-moving cold snap expected to damage citrus and other crops, as temperatures should drop into the 20s and teens in parts of the state.
Andy Tingler, a meteorologist with weather service, says the Panhandle felt 30 degree temperatures as of early this morning; Jacksonville was at 32 degrees.
The National Weather Service in Melbourne forecasts that parts of Orange, Seminole and Lake counties could experience a hard freeze -- a drop in temperature below 28 degrees that could last several hours, killing sensitive plants and outside animals without shelter.
As of 1 p.m. most of Central Florida was under a wind-chill warning from Daytona Beach south to Stuart, forecasters said.
Temperatures tonight will fall below freezing across nearly all of east central Florida and will remain below freezing until shortly after sunrise Thursday, forecasters said. Temperatures will reach the mid- to upper-20s across Volusia County.
The freeze has already hurt cold-weather crops such as potatoes and cabbage in north Florida, and there is concern that low temperatures and high winds could rake as far south as Lake Okeechobee. Temperatures early today fell as low as 30 degrees in northern Florida, but forecasters said it would get colder Thursday.
Tonight is expected to be the coldest this week, with temperatures falling into the upper 20s in most of Central Florida and the mid-20s in parts of Lake County by Thursday morning. But the daylight hours should see a slight warm-up to the mid-50s.
Especially vulnerable is Florida's citrus industry, which cannot afford another big problem. Harvests are already at historic lows because of hurricanes, drought, disappearing acreage and diseases that kill trees and damage fruit.
Much of the state's prime citrus growing areas were expected to get temperatures in the 20s, so Gov. Charlie Crist signed an emergency order and relaxed restrictions in getting harvests moved to processing centers.
"Everybody's scurrying around to do what they can to protect their plants," said Terry McElroy, spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Citrus grower Ben Norris said he was monitoring weather reports to decide if they need to run water over the fruit, which forms an insulating layer of ice on the peel. If temperatures drop to 28 degrees for four hours or more, ice can form inside the fruit, likely damaging it, he said.
"I don't feel like this is going to be catastrophic," said Norris, who oversees about 300,000 boxes of fruit a year in DeSoto and Hardee counties.
Vegetables could face the biggest threat if the freezing weather moves into Palm Beach County and other areas of South Florida where those crops are grown. Farmers are trying to harvest as much of their crops as they can or cover them before tonight to minimize the damage.
In Plant City near Tampa, strawberry grower Carl Grooms spent today morning searching for ripe berries to pluck before they could be damaged. With strong wind and temperatures forecast in the mid-20s, Grooms feared considerable loss.
He and other growers, ranging from strawberries to ferns, use the same technique each time this happens: icing plants by spraying them with water to insulate them at 32 degrees.
NASA engineers, still struggling to figure how to fix faulty fuel sensors in shuttle Atlantis' external tank, took steps today to protect the orbiter from the dangers of plunging temperatures.
Although designed to withstand the temperature extremes in the vacuum of space, systems on the shuttle are sensitive to freezing, especially while sitting idle on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center. So technicians have dusted off NASA's Freeze Protection Plan, switching on internal heaters and hot air blowers to protect the shuttle's orbital maneuvering system, cargo bay and other vital mechanisms, including the solid rocket boosters. If the boosters freeze solid for more than 45 hours, they may not be launched safely, said NASA spokesman George Diller.
Technicians will also keep water used in some shuttle systems flowing overnight to keep it from freezing. There is no launch date yet for Atlantis' long-awaited mission to deliver a European laboratory to the International Space Station. NASA hopes it will be able to launch Atlantis sometime this month if they can fix the low fuel sensors which are an important failsafe system.
Meanwhile, at 3:30 p.m. the temperature at Orlando International Airport was 47 degrees, the weather service shows. It could drop to the 20s tonight with the wind chill making it feel more like 14 to 17 degrees.
The homeless are especially vulnerable to the cold weather. To help, the Orlando Union Rescue Mission said it would waive its usual $6-a-night fee, offering free shelter and a hot breakfast to anyone needing a place to sleep.
Other Central Floridians were advised to cover plants or move them inside, especially Thursday, when the coldest temperatures were expected to move in.
Warm-weather lovers can take heart, though: Friday night temperatures are predicted to stay above 50 degrees, and area residents can expect the mid-70s during the day Saturday.
"Cold temperatures are kind of like tourists in Florida," Bragaw said. "They drop in for a few days but never stick around that long."
Sentinel Staff Writers Susan Jacobson and Robert Block contributed to this report. Wire services also were used.
Wouldn't want to be driving in the sunshine state if they have icy roads. Something tells me they don't have a lot of salt truck.
Farmers, Floridians brace with state under freeze warning
Menacing cold prompts the governor to declare a state of emergency.
From Staff and Wire reports
1:31 PM EST, January 2, 2008
All of Florida, from Miami to the Panhandle and across Central Florida, was under a freeze warning today as 2008 started with a quick-moving cold snap expected to damage citrus and other crops, as temperatures should drop into the 20s and teens in parts of the state.
Andy Tingler, a meteorologist with weather service, says the Panhandle felt 30 degree temperatures as of early this morning; Jacksonville was at 32 degrees.
The National Weather Service in Melbourne forecasts that parts of Orange, Seminole and Lake counties could experience a hard freeze -- a drop in temperature below 28 degrees that could last several hours, killing sensitive plants and outside animals without shelter.
As of 1 p.m. most of Central Florida was under a wind-chill warning from Daytona Beach south to Stuart, forecasters said.
Temperatures tonight will fall below freezing across nearly all of east central Florida and will remain below freezing until shortly after sunrise Thursday, forecasters said. Temperatures will reach the mid- to upper-20s across Volusia County.
The freeze has already hurt cold-weather crops such as potatoes and cabbage in north Florida, and there is concern that low temperatures and high winds could rake as far south as Lake Okeechobee. Temperatures early today fell as low as 30 degrees in northern Florida, but forecasters said it would get colder Thursday.
Tonight is expected to be the coldest this week, with temperatures falling into the upper 20s in most of Central Florida and the mid-20s in parts of Lake County by Thursday morning. But the daylight hours should see a slight warm-up to the mid-50s.
Especially vulnerable is Florida's citrus industry, which cannot afford another big problem. Harvests are already at historic lows because of hurricanes, drought, disappearing acreage and diseases that kill trees and damage fruit.
Much of the state's prime citrus growing areas were expected to get temperatures in the 20s, so Gov. Charlie Crist signed an emergency order and relaxed restrictions in getting harvests moved to processing centers.
"Everybody's scurrying around to do what they can to protect their plants," said Terry McElroy, spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Citrus grower Ben Norris said he was monitoring weather reports to decide if they need to run water over the fruit, which forms an insulating layer of ice on the peel. If temperatures drop to 28 degrees for four hours or more, ice can form inside the fruit, likely damaging it, he said.
"I don't feel like this is going to be catastrophic," said Norris, who oversees about 300,000 boxes of fruit a year in DeSoto and Hardee counties.
Vegetables could face the biggest threat if the freezing weather moves into Palm Beach County and other areas of South Florida where those crops are grown. Farmers are trying to harvest as much of their crops as they can or cover them before tonight to minimize the damage.
In Plant City near Tampa, strawberry grower Carl Grooms spent today morning searching for ripe berries to pluck before they could be damaged. With strong wind and temperatures forecast in the mid-20s, Grooms feared considerable loss.
He and other growers, ranging from strawberries to ferns, use the same technique each time this happens: icing plants by spraying them with water to insulate them at 32 degrees.
NASA engineers, still struggling to figure how to fix faulty fuel sensors in shuttle Atlantis' external tank, took steps today to protect the orbiter from the dangers of plunging temperatures.
Although designed to withstand the temperature extremes in the vacuum of space, systems on the shuttle are sensitive to freezing, especially while sitting idle on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center. So technicians have dusted off NASA's Freeze Protection Plan, switching on internal heaters and hot air blowers to protect the shuttle's orbital maneuvering system, cargo bay and other vital mechanisms, including the solid rocket boosters. If the boosters freeze solid for more than 45 hours, they may not be launched safely, said NASA spokesman George Diller.
Technicians will also keep water used in some shuttle systems flowing overnight to keep it from freezing. There is no launch date yet for Atlantis' long-awaited mission to deliver a European laboratory to the International Space Station. NASA hopes it will be able to launch Atlantis sometime this month if they can fix the low fuel sensors which are an important failsafe system.
Meanwhile, at 3:30 p.m. the temperature at Orlando International Airport was 47 degrees, the weather service shows. It could drop to the 20s tonight with the wind chill making it feel more like 14 to 17 degrees.
The homeless are especially vulnerable to the cold weather. To help, the Orlando Union Rescue Mission said it would waive its usual $6-a-night fee, offering free shelter and a hot breakfast to anyone needing a place to sleep.
Other Central Floridians were advised to cover plants or move them inside, especially Thursday, when the coldest temperatures were expected to move in.
Warm-weather lovers can take heart, though: Friday night temperatures are predicted to stay above 50 degrees, and area residents can expect the mid-70s during the day Saturday.
"Cold temperatures are kind of like tourists in Florida," Bragaw said. "They drop in for a few days but never stick around that long."
Sentinel Staff Writers Susan Jacobson and Robert Block contributed to this report. Wire services also were used.
