<p style="text-indent:0px; line-height:12px;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Brooksville, FL-</span><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">By ANUK Staff<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">3.5.13</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Temperatures dipped as low as the 20s during Florida’s Sunday night freeze, and although the cold weather has passed, another cold front is expected later this week.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">In Citrus and Hernando counties, farmers are hoping warmer weather sets in for good, according to BayNews9.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The cold temperatures drove blueberry farmers into protection mode Sunday night, covering plants with ice to protect them from even lower temperature. As Monday warmed up, the ice melted and farmers were able to evaluate the damage.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Owner of a blueberry farm near Brooksville, Butch Hostetter, said the cold snaps damaged about a third of his crops.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> “It is bad," Hostetter said. "I can’t take too many more cold nights like this. It is getting rough.”<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Other farmers in the region have said they’ll be on standby Monday night through Tuesday morning, in case temperatures dip below freezing again.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href=" http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/news/article.html/content/news/articles/bn9/2013/3/4/little_damage_to_rep.html" target="_new">Freeze Update</a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
