Area citrus growers face another night of possible freezing temperatures
after dealing with freezing temperatures Wednesday and high winds
magnifying cold weather Tuesday.

http://www.sunnewspapers.net/articles/tsnews.aspx?ArticleID=430275&pubdate=1/22/2009

Published on: Thursday, January 22, 2009
Citrus growers cope with freezing temperatures

ARCADIA -- After staying up all night Wednesday to monitor their citrus groves, many area citrus growers could face another long night of freezing temperatures tonight.

Growers saw a hard freeze warning issued Tuesday for most of the Southwest Florida area, including Charlotte, DeSoto and Sarasota counties, with widespread frost predicted and temperatures dropping possibly as low as 21 degrees in inland areas like Arcadia, according to the National Weather Service.

Growers braced for the worst, said Barbara Carlton, executive director of the Peace River Valley Citrus Growers Association, but were optimistic Tuesday that sinking temperatures wouldn't hurt citrus.

"Everyone is being diligent," she said, adding that growers are getting their irrigation systems ready, watching the temperatures and monitoring the situation hour-to-hour through the night.

"We've got our fingers crossed," said Andrew Meadows, spokesman for Florida Citrus Mutual. "There probably will be some spots where it hits."

This would be the third late night for Southwest Florida growers, who on Tuesday saw temperatures as low as 29 degrees inland as far east as Arcadia, and reported wind gusts up to 15 mph. The windy conditions made it difficult for growers to control the temperatures in their groves through irrigation that night, but most local citrus groves were unscathed.

"We came through OK," Meadows said of Tuesday night's weather. "Some spots had damage in the northern part of the citrus belt," such as in Polk County.

As a rule, citrus freezes when temperatures drop to 28 degrees or lower for four hours or more, Carlton said.

Growers usually turn on irrigation systems when temperatures drop below freezing to create a fog that raises the temperature in a grove, but if the wind is blowing an extensive amount, as it was Tuesday, it makes the air in an irrigated grove colder.

Arcadia citrus grower Brian Burns did not run his irrigation system Tuesday night and didn't have any damage Tuesday, noting the temperature dropped to 29 degrees for only a couple of hours. But he planned to use irrigation Wednesday night, due to no high winds being anticipated and temperatures expected to drop lower for a longer period of time.

Fruit damage is the biggest concern, because that could immediately affect citrus profits, but growers also want to avoid leaf burn, which could affect future crops.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reduced its orange crop forecast for the 2008-2009 season by 3 million boxes, to 162 million boxes. Michael W. Sparks, executive vice president and CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual, stated growers were facing a challenging season, with high costs due to diseases and fertilizer prices. Freeze damage could lower that estimate further, possibly sending citrus prices higher.

Record temperatures for Southwest Florida were last seen in 1985, according to the National Weather Service. On Jan. 22, 1985, it was 23 degrees in Arcadia, 26 degrees in Punta Gorda and 27 degrees in the Sarasota-Bradenton area. Severe freezes for several years in the 1980s dealt devastating blows to area citrus crops.

TODAY'S TEMPS

Sunny weather is predicted for Southwest Florida today, with mostly clear skies tonight. A light chop is forecasted in coastal areas through the weekend.

Arcadia:

Expected low -- 32 degrees.

Expected high -- 63 degrees.

Englewood:

Expected low -- 41 degrees.

Expected high -- 60 degrees.

North Port:

Expected low -- 35 degrees

Expected high -- 62 degrees

Punta Gorda:

Expected low -- 38 degrees.

Expected high -- 62 degrees.

E-mail: lschmid@sun-herald.com

By LAURA A. SCHMID

DeSoto Editor

http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2009/01/22/44825_horticulture.html

Big chill for Florida citrus

January 22, 2009

FLORIDA'S main citrus belt will see the coldest temperatures in years this morning, putting the state's US$9.3 billion-per-year citrus industry in jeopardy of a widespread freeze.

Asked about the potential for crop damage, Rick Davis, National Weather Service meteorologist, said: "Absolutely, that's why we're going with a hard freeze, and that's below 27 degrees Fahrenheit (-2.8C) for three or more hours."

Essentially, the areas affected by the hard freeze include the heart of the citrus belt, which basically extends south from the Interstate 4 corridor that runs from Tampa northeast to near Daytona Beach, he explained.

Polk County, Florida's largest citrus producing state, is expected to see a hard freeze in the west, with temperatures rising slightly to -2C to 0C in the east.

A "large swath" of readings in the -7C to -3C range are expected in the central and southern portions of the peninsula, though some pockets of slightly warmer temperatures will also occur. The hard freeze warning will extend as far south as I-75, commonly known as Alligator Alley, that runs from Naples east to Miami.

Davis said the combination of clear skies and light winds will allow temperatures to fall overnight. Currently, the NWS has hard freeze warnings in effect for Glades and Hendry counties in southern Florida, but the NWS will broaden its hard freeze forecast when it issues its afternoon update Wednesday.

Citrus growers are expected to run irrigation Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, as the water contributes moisture to the air, allows the fruit to release heat energy to keep it around 0C and provides insulation for the crop.

Frozen concentrated orange juice prices on ICE Futures US are higher, mostly on concern that the crop could be damaged by the sub-freezing temperatures, an analyst said.

"It's dangerously cold and it's supposed to be 2 to 4 degrees (Fahrenheit) colder tonight - but it's all up to the winds and cloud cover now and it's supposed to be clear," said James Cordier, commodity analyst and founder of Optionsellers.com in Tampa.

"But I think we're seeing higher prices on talk of even colder air pushing down tonight," he added.

March FCOJ futures are trading 255 points higher, or 3.5 per cent, at 74.80 US cents a pound.

-By Tom Sellen, Dow Jones Newswires

http://www.wesh.com/weather/18537311/detail.html

Early Signs Show Some Citrus Damage
Temps Fall Into Mid-20s In Lake County

POSTED: 6:29 am EST January 22, 2009
UPDATED: 7:03 am EST January 22, 2009

GROVELAND, Fla. -- A hard freeze warning for Central Florida kept citrus growers up all night keeping an eye on their groves.

It's the second night in a row where growers have had to keep an eye on the thermometer.

Many growers are running their sprinklers, and some have had them on for 36 hours.

Frost covered the leaves of a Lake County grove in Groveland early Thursday morning. Some fruit also appeared to be freezing on the trees.

Industry officials said frozen fruit can only be used for juicing, and the price paid for the fruit is also slashed.

A thermometer in the grove read 26 degrees just after 6 a.m.

"The fruit could easily freeze ... If it holds 25 (degrees) all the way to the morning, we could very easily have fruit damage. We will have fruit damage. We could easily lose half the leaves and even have small twig damage," grower Ric Freeman said.

Sprinklers are used to try to insulate the trunks of the trees and keep the ground warm. As the water freezes, growers know temperatures won't fall further.

To comment on this story, send an e-mail to Craig Lucie.

Copyright 2009 by WESH.COM. All rights

It was 25 at 4:30 this morning and 25 at 9:30 this morning at my house. I picked all the Pages yesterday late, about 60 pounds of them, plus almost all the Pineapple oranges, 20 pounds of Orlando tangelos, and two large bages of mystery blood oranges and midsweet.

Some trees look a bit the worse, others don't look like it even got cold. The fruit still on the trees looks and feels ok, but we will have to wait a bit and see what they are like in a day or so.

Maybe this is the last bad cold snap for us.

So far we've had a pretty mild winter here in the Southwest. I've hardly put my jacket on all winter and were in the 80's last week. My citrus seem to like it, but I was counting on more frost hours for my apple tree. Can someone FedEx some of their cold weather?

Phillip