January 11, 2009

AP

MIAMI (AP) — Record low temperatures chilled Florida from top to bottom Monday, endangering fruit and vegetable crops and taxing the power grid of a state unaccustomed to the cold.

Photo: An orange is encrusted in ice on Monday in Winter Garden, Fla. as citrus growers continue spraying water on their citrus trees to protect the fruit from sub-freezing temperatures. (By Red Huber, AP)

The National Weather Service reported 36 degrees at the Miami airport, beating an 82-year-old record of 37 degrees. It dipped to 42 degrees in Key West, one degree off the record and the second-coldest reading since 1873.

"I even had ice on my car this morning, which was an unbelievable sight for Miami," said Dan Gregoria, meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

It was 14 degrees Monday morning in Tallahassee, breaking the record of 15 set in 1982. Record-tying lows of 29 were observed in Orlando, and Tampa's 25-degree weather beat its old record of 27.

South Florida is usually around 68 degrees this time of year.

The cold, swept in on an arctic front from Canada, is extremely tough on fruit and vegetable crops. It was below 28 degrees more than 8 hours in the agriculture-dominated area around Lake Okeechobee, twice the length of time qualifying for a damaging "hard freeze."

Small power outages were happening across the overtaxed grid — owing to the use of space heaters and the fact that many home heating systems in the typically steamy area are inefficient.

Photo: A runner bundles up as she exercises on the boardwalk on Monday in Miami Beach. The National Weather Service recorded 36 degrees in Miami Monday morning, which beat the 82-year-old record of 37 degrees. (Joe Raedle/ Getty)

By midmorning, Florida Power and Light had about 14,000 homes without power and 1,300 restoration workers in the field.

FPL spokesman Mark Bubriski said Sunday and Monday set successive records for consumer electricity demand.

Two separate families in Tampa and North Miami were treated for smoke inhalation after trying to use a barbecue grill to heat their homes.

Cold temperatures aren't entirely unheard of in Florida, but it's unusual for them to linger this long. Gregoria said Monday was the 10th consecutive day of lows under 50 degrees in South Florida, just shy of a record of 13 days set in 1940.

Even Miami's high was under 50 on Sunday, a mark observed just four times previously.

Gregoria said it would gradually start warming Monday, with the possibility of 80-degree temperatures in some areas by later in the week.

"By Friday temperatures will be near normal, if not slightly above, which will feel like a heat wave after this," he said. "We're confident this was our coldest morning."

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/news/extremes/2010-01-11-florida-cold_N.htm

www.standeyo.com/NEWS/10_Food_Water/100112.FL.record.lows.html