(The Center Square) – Floridians are bracing for record low temperatures as the state’s citrus industry faces continued challenges.
The National Weather Service warned, “Temperatures could drop rapidly behind a strong cold front as it moves through the South and East. Temps across portions of the Southern Plains and Southeast could be below freezing for 2-3 days! Temps like these are 30+ degrees below normal for this time of the year.”
In northern Florida, the NWS Tallahassee reported, “An arctic front arrives Friday. Temperatures fall into the mid-teens to lower 20s by Saturday morning. Highs this weekend struggle into the 30s to low 40s. A hard freeze and low wind chills are on tap as well.”
A strong cold front coming in Thursday night will bring multiple hazards with it to Florida, the NWS warned, including hard freezes, gusty winds and dangerous wind chills, minor coastal flooding, high surf, rip currents, and hazardous boat weather.
A freeze occurs when the temperature reaches between 32 and 24 degrees Fahrenheit and lasts for two or more hours. A hard freeze occurs when temperatures hit below 23 degrees Fahrenheit for any length of time.
North Florida is under a hard freeze watch from 6 p.m. Friday at to 11 a.m. Sunday.
“Sustained winds of 15 to 25 mph with gusts of 30 to 40 mph Friday will result in afternoon wind chills in the teens and 20s,” the NWS said. “Saturday morning`s wind chills will fall into the single digits and teens area-wide with some spots in southeast Alabama and southwest Georgia near zero.”
In South Florida, WPBF News reported temperatures on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are expected to reach the lowest holiday temperatures since 1995. It “called a First Warning Weather Day for Saturday because temperatures are expected to get dangerously cold with wind chill in the 20s, according to First Warning Weather meteorologists.”
Freeze warnings have already been issued by several south Florida counties and residents are encouraged to follow warnings and advisories from local authorities.
Cold weather is a serious threat, Florida’s Division of Emergency Management warns. “During the harsh winter of 1989-1990, 26 Floridians died of hypothermia,” it says.
“Because of normally mild temperatures, Florida homes often lack adequate heating and insulation and the Florida outdoor lifestyle leads to danger for those not prepared.” It reminds Floridians of the 5 P’s of Cold Weather Safety: protect people, pets, plants, pipes and practice fire safety.
The agency has published winter safety tips here.
Floridians bracing for a hard freeze are doing so after surviving two hurricanes, multiple tornadoes, and a hard freeze in January that hit the citrus industry hard.
The winter weather warnings come after the USDA issued its first forecast for the 2022–2023 citrus season, projecting Florida growers would produce less this year than last year: 28 million boxes of Florida oranges, 2 million boxes of Florida grapefruit and 700,000 boxes of Florida specialty citrus.
This comes after growers this year already produced the smallest batch of oranges in Florida since World War II.
Growers earlier this year fought a battle on two fronts: sub-freezing temperatures and a persistent disease infecting citrus trees, citrus greening. But they were also hit on a third front by Hurricane Ian, one of the costliest hurricanes on record.
The hurricane “hit Florida citrus growers on many levels – their groves, their homes, their communities – all in the path of destruction,” Shannon Shepp, executive director of the Florida Department of Citrus, said.
Despite serious losses and challenges, she said, “Growers approached this season with optimism for good reason. Innovations in greening therapies and the discovery of trees that show signs of natural resistance/tolerance to the disease are teed up for deployment.”
While the hurricane was a setback, she said, the industry was “ready to take a clear set of new tools and do what they really want to do – rebuild, recover from greening.”
In the meantime, as orange juice prices keep rising, citrus growers are asking Americans to keep buying it to help them stay afloat.
