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Coming Freeze Likely To Be Worse Than Before; Farmers Worried

Tribune photo by JIM REED

Ice clings to a gate to a field of strawberries last month on a farm near Plant City.

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By NEIL JOHNSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 3, 2009

TAMPA - Another slug of arctic air is on the way that could send freezing temperatures stabbing as far south as the Everglades Wednesday night and bring even colder temperatures than last month's statewide freeze.

The newest freeze will hit before agriculture officials have fully tallied damage from last month.

Farmers are still recovering from the freeze that ravaged crops in South Florida on Jan. 22 and 23.

Temperatures fell to the 20s in the vegetable growing areas south of Lake Okeechobee, hammering green bean and squash crops.

Farther north, some potato farmers lost as much as half of their crops in Central Florida.

This freeze could be worse.

The National Weather Service has posted freeze watches for Wednesday night across the peninsula to the southern tip of the state. Temperatures as low as 20 or possibly in the teens are forecast as far south as Hernando.

The weather service office in Miami has issued a hard freeze warning for almost the entire state, meaning temperatures could drop to 28 degrees or below for at least four hours.

The prospect of a second freeze in farming areas so soon worries agriculture officials.

"We're very concerned," said Liz Compton, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

The freeze threatens a cornucopia of crops from potatoes and cabbage in northeast Florida to avocado, celery okra, corn, green beans, squash and radishes in South Florida.

The freeze is potentially so severe it could threaten Bahia grass pastures in northern and Central Florida.

Compton's department has not finished determining the extent of crop damage from January, though early reports said at least 80 percent of the green bean crop around Belle Glade was lost.

Now, officials will just wait for the weather's latest body punch before deciding whether crop damage warrants a request for a federal disaster declaration.

The Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association also has not gathered any solid numbers from January, said spokeswoman Lisa Lockridge. But there's no doubt a second freeze has farmers worried.

"I think there's a pretty high level of concern that this is going to be a one-two punch. We sure are getting our share of cold weather," she said.

Strawberry farmers in Hillsborough County generally escaped serious damage from the January freeze but may not be that lucky Wednesday night.

The weather service forecasts that temperatures around the strawberry growing areas could drop below freezing by 1 a.m. Thursday and stay below 32 until after 8 a.m. after bottoming out at 23.

Reporter Neil Johnson can be reached at njohnson@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7731.

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