Florida -
By ANUK Staff
02.19.13
Florida was hit with freezing temperatures this weekend with a freeze warning issued for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday morning. The cold front pushed temperatures in central and northern regions of Florida well below freezing.
Florida Strawberry growers were kept on their toes, protecting their crops from the season's first hard frost. One precautionary measure farmers use is watering them down with sprinklers so they will be frozen in a suspended growth state until they can thaw and continue producing, according to reports in 9news.com.
Weather had been fairly mild this season in Florida, causing some strawberry fields to bloom early and leaving young plants susceptible to damage when temperatures dropped below freezing. The warm winter caused the plants to produce nearly double the strawberries normally expected for this time of year.
So far, reports state that growers suspect any damage was minimal, but it may take a little more time to fully assess any crop impact from the freezing conditions.
A Florida grower told AndNowuKnow that they had experienced temperatures as low as 28 but that there wasn't significant damage associated with the freeze itself as much as the damage caused from last week's rain on Valentine's Day. There was cleaning up from that going on, when the freeze came in. The cold weather coupled with the rain cleanup caused a significant slow-down in production this week.
Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for further updates on Florida weather.
