Morning everyone,
A hard freeze continues this morning across inland Southwest Florida. As of 6 AM, most areas east of I-75 are in the 20's, with temperatures as low as the mid 20's for parts of Highlands, Glades, and Hendry Counties. The duration of the cold is most important though and there's some bad news there -- in Palmdale and Immokalee, for example, the temperature has been below freezing since about midnight and at or below 28 degrees since around 3 AM. Why is 28 degrees so important? We consider 28 degrees or lower for 4 or more hours to be potentially very damaging to the citrus crop and we have seen, already, 3+ hours of temperatures at or below 28 degrees in the citrus growing areas up and down the US-27 corridor through Glades and Highlands counties.
By the way, there is a wind chill advisory along the coast this morning and a wind chill warning inland this morning for wind chills that, at times, will feel like they're in the upper teens to near 20!
Brian
