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July 25, 2008 11:55:22 AM CDT

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Fla. Growers Fight Record Cold

Posted Jan 3, 08 8:31 AM CST in Business,  US 

(Newser) – Florida shivered last night  last night as a cold snap set new lows—35 degrees in Ft. Lauderdale—and threatened serious damage to crops. Farmers spent the night in the fields, spraying strawberries and oranges with water to create a protective glaze of ice. In  Plant City, dubbed the winter strawberry capital of the world, temperatures hit freezing at midnight, and dropped to 28 by 2:30am.

Meanwhile, local homeless shelters struggled to prepare to house hundreds of people beyond their normal capacity, and the governor has declared a state of emergency. Temperatures should return to the 60s and 70s later today.

Sources Miami Herald, Associated Press

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Hans Katros, owner of Katros Groves, checks the irrigation system on a pumello citrus tree on his grove in Haines City, Fla., Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008. Florida citrus growers are preparing for freezing...   (Associated Press)
Freeze could drive up price of orange juice.   (Getty Images)
An orange is surrounded by ice in a grove in Eustis, Florida, Friday, January 24, 2003. Similarly cold temperatures could threaten this year's crop.   (KRT Photos)
Ice forms on strawberries at Trio Farms in Bradenton, Florida, Friday January 24, 2003. An overnight freeze could threaten this year's strawberry crop.   (KRT Photos)
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