Farmers Battle on as Freezing Temps Continue
Some temperatures didn't dive quite as low overnight as the night before, but other areas were slightly cooler.
The National Weather Service reported Lake Alfred as the coldest spot in Polk County, hitting 26 degrees. Frostproof was at 28 and Winter Haven 30. Lakeland's official temperature was unavailable by noon, but Bay News 9 reported it about 29 degrees early today.
Temperatures vary depending on location, so some areas dropped lower.
Lakeland strawberry Carl Grooms recorded 25 degrees at his farm, which was 1 degree cooler than the night before.
So far, farmers raising cold-sensitive tropical fish have reported minor losses, but the extent of the damage may not be immediately known.
Forecasts predict lows will again drop into the upper 20s or the lower 30s tonight, and the highs today should be in the low to mid 50s. It is expected to warm up after that.
Low temperatures were reported south of here, also, according to Mongi Zekri, a multi-county citrus agent with the University of Florida extension service.
It got as low as 23 degrees in groves in Southwest Florida, he reported.
"It was the coldest night so far," Zekri wrote in an e-mail. "Some growers/production managers in Southwest Florida reported finding some frozen fruit in the 'cold pockets' and along the grove edges. Bad news!
"Trees have been extensively losing leaves before the freeze and will keep losing more leaves after the freeze, which is more bad news. Defoliated trees will become weak and may not bloom well and set a good crop next spring. However, it is too early to evaluate the extent of the damage."
HAINES CITY | Florida's tropical fish farmers face disastrous losses from the recent freezing weather, possibly as bad as last January's freeze that wiped out about 70 percent of their stocks.
"It looks like we're going to have another January," Art Rawlins, a Lithia tropical fish farmer and president of the Winter Haven-based Florida Tropical Fish Farm Association Inc., said Tuesday. "We've seen some loss already, but we're seeing a lot of lethargic fish. If the weather keeps on like this, they'll be dead by tomorrow."
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Tropical fish farmers are vulnerable not just to freezing nighttime temperatures but to low daytime temperatures that do not allow pond water temperatures to recover to 60 degrees or warmer. Some tropical fish species begin to die or sustain fatal injury once temperatures fall below 60 degrees, and massive fatalities occur once water temperatures sink to the low 50s.
Pond temperatures can recover under sunny skies during the day, particularly in ponds covered with plastic, which generates a greenhouse effect from the sunlight.
Like January, the first two days of the week have seen limited daytime sun, Rawlins said.
Although the recent cold snap does not threaten to break January's record of 13 consecutive days with temperatures below 40 degrees, farmers lost 70 percent or more of their fish stocks 11 months ago after the first three days, he said.
Weather conditions for the first three days this week look depressingly similar.
Marty Tanner of Aquatica Tropicals Inc. in Plant City, president of the Florida Aquaculture Association, had a sunnier outlook on potential losses. He pointed to the forecast for sun today and the rest of the week with temperatures expected above 40 degrees.
"At least that gives us an opportunity for temperatures to recover in the ponds during the day," Tanner said.
"I'm looking at it more optimistically that losses may not be as industrywide as they were (in January)."
Still, Tanner acknowledged, "we could sustain some heavy losses."
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