| Growers gauging crop damage from Friday morning's freeze
were bracing themselves Monday for another round of hot-chocolate weather
tonight.
"We keep getting freezes over our fields," said Judy Sanchez,
spokeswoman for Clewiston-based U.S. Sugar Corp. "Sunday morning we
had 27-degree temperatures for 31/2 hours."
Sugar cane, vegetable and citrus crops were hurt by Friday temperatures
that dropped into the low 20s for several hours in the Glades growing
region in western Palm Beach County. It was the third night of freezing
temperatures in less than a week and could cause damage in the millions,
particularly to South Florida's 459,000 acres of sugar cane.
Both mature and young cane fields have turned from green to brown.
Don't be lulled by Monday and today's relative warmth, weather
forecasters warned. Tonight and Wednesday's early morning temperatures
will be in the 40s on the coast in Palm Beach County, and in the low to
mid-30s in the western farming areas.
"Wellington will probably have patchy frost. In Belle Glade they
may be down close to freezing (tonight)," said Jim Lushine,
meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami.
Treasure Coast temperatures will be even lower, with tonight's
temperatures in the upper 30s on the coast and in the low 30s inland,
Lushine said.
Meanwhile, state agriculture officials said they expect to have
vegetable crop damage estimates by later this week. Estimates will be
based on spot surveys by county extension agents, said Florida Department
of Agriculture spokesman Terry McElroy.
Citrus freeze damage estimates will not be available until Jan. 22,
said Florida Agricultural Statistics administrator Bob Terry of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture office in Orlando. A dozen USDA employees will
fan out into selected groves Jan. 18 to inspect the fruit.
South Florida's sugar cane growers said it's too early to tell the
extent of the damage, and no dollar figures have been calculated. But they
said they're harvesting and milling the cane as quickly as possible before
it deteriorates.
Whatever the crop, the best scenario is continued cool weather, ideally
no hotter than the 70s.
"A lot depends on the weather," said Barbara Miedema,
spokeswoman for the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida in Belle
Glade. "If it stays cool like this, it's like putting the sugar cane
in the refrigerator. If it warms up, it's like putting it in the
oven." |