Jan 3, 2008 8:43 am US/Eastern
Brrrr - Man It's Cold
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
South Florida had to bundle up Thursday as temperatures dropped into the low 30s in the early morning hours.
CBS4 Weather Center said temperatures across the region tied or broke some of the coldest temperatures on record. At Tamiami Airport, the thermometer dipped to 35-degrees, the coldest temperature ever recorded at the airport.
Ft. Lauderdale, at 39-degrees, tied the record cold temperature set back in 1979. Miami, which also recorded a temperature of 39-degrees, missed its record cold mark of 35-degrees set back in 1898. Miami Beach, however, broke the record at 41-degrees; its previous record cold temperature was 42-dregrees set back in 1979.
Key West also tied their record low temperature of 45-degrees set in three previous years. The previous record low for the
Southernmost City was 46-degrees set back in 1898.
The lowest temperature recorded across the was 20 degrees in Cross City, about 90 miles southeast of Tallahassee, according to the National Weather Service.
To our north, Citrus growers across the middle part of the state spent Wednesday night into Thursday morning trying to save their crops from the cold snap that brought temperatures into the 20s and teens overnight.
Growers have been harvesting what they can and spraying the rest
of the fruits and vegetables with water. The hope is that when the
water freezes it will insulate the produce at 32 degrees. A citrus
industry spokesman says he's "cautiously optimistic" farmers will
emerge from the cold snap without significant losses.
"It looks like we have dodged a bullet," said Rusty Wiygul, director of grower affairs for the grower advocacy group Florida Citrus Mutual. "We came through this real well, no major damage to the majority of citrus."
The cold could benefit some growers, Wiygul said, because it slows down growth and hardens up citrus trees. On Thursday, farmers will be checking on other crops that Florida produces in the winter for much of the country, from broccoli and cabbage in north Florida to strawberries, tomatoes, corn and citrus toward the south.
Thursday temperatures are expected to be closer to normal to what the state can expect at this time of year. By mid-afternoon, temperatures should rise to the lower 60s, with lows Thursday evening into Friday morning expected to be only in the mid-50s. Friday afternoon highs are expected to be in the lower 70s.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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