Heather Buchman
Jan 9, 2010
In addition to another shot of bitterly cold air, people across parts of Florida endured a mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain Friday night into Saturday morning. While the threat for wintry precipitation has now ended, arctic air will continue spreading southward across the Sunshine State into early next week.
Temperatures will drop below freezing again in South Texas tonight and across areas from Louisiana into much of Florida the next few nights. The subfreezing temperatures could damage crops across these states.
Florida
Many fans on AccuWeather.com’s Facebook page reported seeing snow and sleet Saturday morning along the I-4 corridor from the Tampa area through Orlando and Daytona Beach. Observations of freezing rain were also reported later in the morning in some areas.
The wintry precipitation was falling in the wake of an arctic front that pushed through the state. Colder, drier air filtering in behind that front will cause any lingering rain in South Florida to taper off tonight.
Temperatures early Sunday morning are expected to dip into the teens and 20s from northern Florida into the central peninsula, including areas as far south as Punta Gorda and Clewiston.
Temperatures will drop even lower Sunday night, reaching the lowest levels of the season so far. In fact, temperatures will plummet below 28 degrees for several hours in south-central Florida. Lows will be in the teens as far south as Ocala.
The citrus crop escaped a cold blast earlier in the week with only minimal damage. The magnitude of the cold this weekend will likely prove to be more damaging.
Louisiana
Temperatures will once again plunge well below freezing tonight across Louisiana, dipping into the teens even across far southern Louisiana and lower 20s in New Orleans
.
Southern Louisiana is home to roughly 40 percent of the nation’s sugarcane crop.
Damage to the sweet cash crop due to the cold is just the latest problem for the area. The harvest in the region is already behind schedule because record autumn rainfall saturated fields.
Texas
In the wake of Friday night’s hard freeze in South Texas, temperatures will again plunge into the 20s across much of the region tonight.
Along the Rio Grande Valley in Deep South Texas, temperatures will not dip quite as low as they did Friday night. In most places, lows will be in the lower 30s rather than upper 20s.
On a national basis, South Texas produces about 1 percent of oranges, 18 percent of grapefruits and 5 to 10 percent of sugarcane.
Temperatures will rebound across Texas and much of the Plains Sunday into the early part of next week. Less wind and more sunshine will also make it feel less harsh during the daytime hours.
AccuWeather.com Meteorologists Alex Sosnowski and Meghan Evans contributed to the content of this story.
