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Freeze Should End Today

By NEIL JOHNSON

njohnson@tampatrib.com

Published: January 23, 2009

TAMPA - This morning's cold should mark the end of a string of freezing nights that battered the state's farmers and kept residents shivering as far south as the Everglades.

Today should see a move toward afternoons in the 70s and morning lows in the 50s, a pattern that will last into next week.
Forecasters don't expect this morning to be as frigid as Thursday, when temperatures in the 20s were common in the Tampa Bay area, except for Pinellas County.

Still, freeze warnings Thursday night covered most of the state from Hillsborough County south, and folks from Pasco County north were expected to see temperatures in the low 20s away from the coast.

Hillsborough's berry farmers likely escaped serious damage Tuesday and Wednesday, but vegetable growers south of Lake Okeechobee were hit hard.

As for homeowners dealing with freeze-damaged plants, Kim Hutton, a botanist at the University of South Florida Botanical Gardens, has some simple advice.

"Don't start yanking anything. We won't know the damage for a couple weeks. A lot will come back."

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