Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Today's bluster to deliver shivers of winter

Farmers will keep an eye on the thermometer as some of the coldest weather of winter is expected this weekend.

By GRAHAM BRINK
Published February 11, 2006

Get ready for that weather you moved to Florida to avoid.

After windy and potentially rainy weather today, a cold front will bring clear skies and possibly the coldest air of the winter.

The chilliest temperatures will be on Sunday night and Monday morning, where lows will dip into the 20s in Hernando and Citrus counties and the high 30s or low 40s in the Tampa Bay area.

By Monday afternoon, temperatures will climb back into the 60s in most areas.

Emergency shelters were on standby, and farmers and nursery owners had their fingers crossed.

"It's awfully late in the season to have to worry about a serious freeze," said Kathy Oleson of Boyett Grove in eastern Hernando County, which grows citrus. "But we'll watch it closely."

Citrus trees are expected to survive without adverse effects. As a general rule, the temperature has to drop to 27 degrees or below for more than four hours before orange and grapefruit trees suffer damage.

Tom Hinkley, one of the owners of Twin Cedars Nursery in Brooksville, said plants shouldn't be in danger by the dip in temperature. But as a precaution, they'll be covered in gauze.

"I'm not expecting any more than we've had (earlier this winter)," Hinkley said. "For us old-timers, this stuff isn't anything like it was in the 1980s."

Boaters can expect choppy conditions today and should check the forecast carefully before heading out into the Gulf of Mexico.

--Times staff writer Chandra Broadwater contributed to this report.

[Last modified February 11, 2006, 01:14:11]