Cold threatens Florida farming

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Subfreezing temperatures across the South have Florida farmers worried that strawberry, tomato and other crops could be destroyed, with temperatures in usually balmy Miami only in the 50s on Tuesday.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist signed an executive order that gives the state’s Division of Emergency Management and other agencies the authority to provide growers with assistance. Throughout central and south Florida, farmers are trying to salvage millions of dollars worth of citrus and vegetable crops, spraying them in protective layers of ice and covering them in plastic.

“The problem now is that we have a weeklong freeze predicted,” said Ted Campbell, executive director for the Florida Strawberry Growers Association. “It’s an endurance test.”

Forecasters say the Southern deep freeze will last through the weekend, likely breaking records for continuous cold temperatures in many parts of Florida and elsewhere.

The eastern U.S. was not only dealing with subfreezing temperatures; parts of New England were under record snowfall. In Burlington, Vt., a storm dumped more than 33 inches, breaking a single-storm record of nearly 30 inches set in 1969.

In northeast Ohio, forecasters say snow will continue to fall in areas that already have 2 feet or more on the ground. The National Weather Service said areas in the region’s “snow belt” could receive up to 8 more inches of lake-effect snow on Tuesday.

Four deaths were blamed on the cold in Tennessee.

The duration of the cold snap is unusual, especially in the South, where the weather is typically chilly for just a day or two before temperatures rebound into the 50s.