Record Chill Sweeps Eastern U.S.; Citrus Crop Damage Heavy

A deadly blast of arctic air set all-time cold records from Texas to New England today, forcing Inaugural Day festivities indoors for the first time since 1829, ravaging Florida’s billion-dollar citrus crop and bringing subzero temperatures to the Deep South.

International Falls, Minn.--traditionally the nation’s cold spot--was almost 40 degrees warmer than Beckley, W.Va., while Juneau, Alaska, was warmer than Brownsville, Tex., and New Orleans was 5 degrees colder than Fairbanks, Alaska.

At least 49 people have died since the icy air started slicing through the Midwest on Saturday. The highest death toll came in Michigan--hit by two full days of subzero blasts--where nine people have died and more than 3,800 have lost power in their homes.

The overwhelming demand for electricity to keep heaters going in the stunned South today caused a systemwide power outage throughout southeast Texas and as far east as Baton Rouge, La. At least 30,000 homes were without power.

The 7-degree morning high in Washington--the coldest in inaugural history--forced President Reagan to move today’s ceremony indoors and to cancel the traditional parade.

Hard on Citrus Groves

The cold hammered Florida’s beleaguered citrus industry with record low temperatures, and industry spokesmen today reported severe damage to groves.

“We know that the damage is there simply by looking at the temperatures,” said Earl Wells of the Florida Citrus Mutual. “The temperatures are down to 14 or 15 degrees for a long duration in areas that sustained severe damage” during the last freeze.

Central Florida citrus growers lost millions of dollars during a bitter cold snap during the Christmas holidays in 1983, damaging or destroying one-fourth of the area’s groves.

At least 20 cities had their coldest morning in history today and the cold broke more than 75 records for the date, some stretching back more than a century.

Temperatures reached below zero across northern Mississippi, central Alabama and central Georgia, and record lows for the date were tied or broken as far south as the Gulf of Mexico.

Many Schools Closed

The cold closed hundreds of schools in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and Missouri, as school officials feared that wind chills reaching 50 below would harm children waiting for school buses.

The Southern cold shut down power to about 4,500 customers in Alabama, and sporadic power outages were reported in New Orleans. Alabama had its coldest temperatures of the century, with snow falling all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

Baton Rouge, La., had its coldest temperature of the century when the temperature hit 9 degrees today.