Florida Cold Damages Citrus Crop, Strains Power Supplies
Florida endured another day of bitter cold that damaged the state’s citrus crop and prompted a local utility to ask residents to reduce electricity use.
Freeze warnings and cold weather advisories cover a large portion of the state, the National Weather Service said. Jacksonville saw a low of 22F (-6C) and Orlando fell to 24F on Sunday, both daily records, while Tampa dropped to 29F, two degrees shy of its record.
“There was significant damage to the remaining oranges to be picked in central Florida,” said Jim Roemer, a meteorologist who publishes the WeatherWealth newsletter. “Many key areas were well below 28 degrees for over four hours between Sunday and this morning.”
Florida’s citrus industry was already struggling with the long-running effects of greening disease, which is spread by an invasive pest and causes fruits to drop prematurely. The US Department of Agriculture forecast this season’s orange juice harvest would be the smallest since 1930. The deep cold may have permanently damaged some trees in the area as temperatures remained below 24F for four hours, according to Roemer.
Trevor Murphy, a citrus grower in Highlands County, said he found ice and slush in his fruit.
“There will be heavy leaf loss from the frost damage and some of the young trees we’ve planted over the past few months probably won’t make it,” Murphy added. “It’ll be a few days until we start seeing leaf and fruit drop.”
Orange juice futures markets dropped as much as 12%, the biggest intraday plunge since 2010.
Growers had already prepared with water sprayers to help insulate oranges, and some unharvested fruits were mature enough to be salvaged, said Judy Ganes, the president of J. Ganes Consulting. The cold weather is expected to help with that, she added.
“They need to get the oranges off the trees and processed before the oranges go soft and rot, so a freeze and fast warm up is more challenging than a lingering cold,” Ganes said.
The cold has also strained on power resources across the South. Duke Energy Corp. asked customers in Florida and North Carolina to conserve electricity Monday morning to help avoid power outages. The US Department of Energy told seven Florida utilities they can bring additional power plants online to meet demand as the cold lingers.
The worst of the cold in Florida should ease after Tuesday, said David Roth, a senior branch forecaster at the Weather Prediction Center. The chill has already led to some unusual events across the state, including reports of snow flurries in Tampa and Fort Myers over the weekend.
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Photo: Workers install frames to hang protective fabric around plants ahead of cold weather in Miami on Jan. 29. (Zak Bennett/Bloomberg)