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| 01-15-2010
The sting of cold weather fell on Florida citrus groves Monday morning, leaving frozen fruit in many areas of the state's citrus belt and possibly tree damage.
Unlike Sunday morning, when most of the damage occurred in groves near Interstate 4 and to the north, Monday's damage reached far south into the Florida citrus belt.
"In southwest Florida, the temperature got from 24 to 28 (degrees) in most areas. The duration at 28 or lower was more than five hours in all locations," said Mongi Zekri, a University of Florida agriculture extension agent in Hendry County, the state's second-largest citrus-producing county behind Polk.
"There was ice in the fruit in all locations. Most likely, the juice content for late-maturing citrus (Valencia oranges) will drop significantly," Zekri said. "Most likely, the trees will have significant leaf loss down the road. This will weaken the trees and may negatively affect next season's crop, too; however, it is too early to know."
The official low temperature Monday in Lakeland was 23 degrees, smashing the record of 31 degrees for the date set in 1977, said Rick Davis of the National Weather Service in Ruskin. Bartow also set a record low of 27 degrees, one degree cooler than the previous record on that date in 1970 and again in 1978. The unofficial low in Winter Haven was 27 degrees.
Lakeland Electric's customers on Monday morning broke - in fact, obliterated - the utility's all-time peak demand for power. The new record of 871 megawatts broke Sunday morning's record of 808 megawatts, the only other time in Lakeland Electric's history that peak demand has been over 800 megawatts.
Read the original article from The Ledger.