Cold Wave Chills Midwest, Heads South

A wave of bitterly cold air rolled across the Midwest and toward the Southeast on Sunday, and the Florida Panhandle prepared for the lowest temperatures of the season.

Meanwhile, heavy rains and melting snow raised flood dangers in parts of New England.

In northwestern Wisconsin, the southern shore of Lake Superior was under a gale warning, waves as high as 18 feet were forecast and the wind-chill factor fell to 64 below zero. Heavy snow was expected in Michigan, the National Weather Service said.

“It’s just a straight shot out of Canada,” weather service meteorologist Tom Fendon in Ann Arbor, Mich., said of the cold front.

A 34-year-old Tennessee man died Sunday when he lost control of his car on a curve and it hit a tree near Sunbright, Tenn. As much as four inches of snow fell across the eastern part of the state.

In Florida, temperatures plunged into the teens. “Temperatures may approach all-time record lows in some areas. This could be a major freeze on a par with the Christmas 1983 freeze and the January freeze of last year,” a weather service crop advisory said.

Growers began wetting down their citrus groves to help the trees retain heat.

“Prior to a freeze, we try to get as much moisture as possible. The water will absorb a little more heat and release it slowly through the night,” said Alan Hemenway, vice president of Ben Hill Griffin Inc., a large citrus company in Frostproof, Fla.

Frosts in 1983 and 1984 devastated the central Florida citrus groves and many of the growers moved south. Citrus crops can be damaged if temperatures fall below 28 degrees for four hours or longer.

“It’s cold now, but it’s going to get worse during the week,” meteorologist Harry Gordon said. “The main force (of the storm) has not reached there yet.”

The coldest spot in the lower 48 states early Sunday was Warroad, Minn., at 21 degrees below zero.

The surge of cold air pushed temperatures in northern Iowa from the teens at midnight to below zero late Sunday morning.

As the cold front moved through Cincinnati at mid-morning, the temperature fell from 31 degrees to 26 degrees in one hour.

The weather service in Kentucky warned of “the coldest air of the winter,” and forecast overnight wind-chill factors as low as 50 below zero.

In Alabama, forecasters warned that by today, temperatures would range from 8 degrees in the north to about 20 along the Gulf Coast, with winds of 15 m.p.h. to 25 m.p.h.--a combination that they said will feel like 5 below zero along the coast.

In New England, central and northern Vermont had two feet of snow Sunday, and it fell at a rate of 1 1/2 inches an hour in places.

Heavy rain and melting snow necessitated flood warnings and watches in southern Vermont and other parts of the Northeast.