Florida's citrus crop escapes major damage from cold

MIAMI -- Florida's $9 billion-a-year citrus crop escaped major damage Friday from an arctic blast that brought rare snow flurries to Cape Canaveral and shattered record lows as far south as Miami Beach.

Though the mercury dipped as low as 15 in Panama City Beach and 19 in Jacksonville, citrus growers said temperatures in the prime growing region farther south did not fall below 28 for more than four hours, the threshold for damage.

"We flirted with it. We stepped to the edge, but we're fine," said grower Dan Richey of Vero Beach, which recorded a relatively safe low of 31.

But the threat may not be completely over for a citrus crop that is largely mature and still on the trees.

A huge Canadian weather system that has gripped the eastern two-thirds of the country was expected to bring another hard freeze to Florida early today.

Strawberry growers, who flipped on sprinklers to give their crops a protective glaze, said they know there will be some damage to fruit on the plants, but they will not know the extent of it until a thaw early next week.

"We have all of our fields completely under ice. It looks like a snowy white Christmas out here," said Ila Allen, spokeswoman for the Florida Strawberry Growers Association.

The Sunshine State's big chill caused records to fall in even the state's balmiest cities. Miami's low of 37 Friday broke a record for the date that had stood for 62 years. Miami Beach's 38, West Palm Beach's 33 and Hollywood's 36 were also records.

And Cape Canaveral to Daytona Beach got a rare dusting of snow Friday. The flurries, which didn't stick, were described by meteorologists as ocean-effect snow, similar to the lake-effect flurries familiar to the frigid cities of Chicago and Cleveland.

"No one took us seriously," Air Force Lt. Michael Jennings said with a chuckle. He was among the few forecasters who correctly predicted the first snowfall near NASA's shuttle launch site in 13 years.

"I couldn't believe it myself," he said. "It's the talk of the town."

Frigid cold, it seemed, even sapped some of the heat from one city's case of Super Bowl fever.

"I'm wearing this big leather coat, two shirts, long johns and it's still freezing," Anthony Knight said as he braved temperatures in the mid-30s in downtown Tampa at a rally for the Super Bowl-bound Buccaneers. "My toes and fingertips are frozen. My whole body is frozen. But I'm taking it."

Across the South, overnight lows that plunged into the single digits in the Tennessee Valley Authority's seven-state service area created a record demand for the public utility of 29,866 megawatts early Friday. That broke the record of 29,344 megawatts set Aug. 17, 2000, when the mercury hit 99 degrees.

Schools closed or opened late Friday in many states, including most of North Carolina, Georgia and northern Florida. In some places, roads were clear but officials feared the extreme temperatures.

On North Carolina's Outer Banks, where up to a foot of snow fell this week, youngsters used the day off to sled down the dunes where the Wright Brothers made their first flight.

At least two North Carolina deaths were blamed on the cold -- a woman who died in a fire caused by a space heater and a teenage boy whose speeding four-wheeler spun out of control.

The six homeless shelters run by the Atlanta Union Mission were filled to capacity, and officials have been trying to squeeze extra people in with mats on the floor and makeshift beds in the kitchen.

"Not only are we having unusually brutal weather this year, but the economic downturn has been particularly hard in Atlanta," said Lou Graner, the mission's director of development. "It's kind of a confluence of events."

In Columbia, S.C., the tents of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus were cozy, despite the cold.

"The animals look at the change of the weather like kids," said Debbie Fahrenbruck, the show's veterinary technician. "They enjoy it a lot more than adults."

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