Arctic Air Freezes Deep South, Threatens Citrus; 7 Dead in East

Frigid air poured into the heart of the Deep South on Monday, threatening Florida citrus and vegetable crops with temperatures lower than readings in New England and Montana and icing roads in Alabama and Georgia.

At least seven deaths were blamed on the weather from New York to Georgia as hundreds of vehicles slid out of control. Heavy, wet snow and freezing rain snapped power lines and caused blackouts affecting thousands in the Northeast.

Snow fell from the upper Ohio Valley across most of the Appalachians to the mid Atlantic Coast, and nearly four feet of snow had piled up over the weekend in parts of upstate New York.

Winds Aggravate Cold

The icy air rushing from the Arctic into the Southeast dropped wind chill factors to as low as 60 degrees below zero over the upper Great Lakes and upper Mississippi Valley, the National Weather Service said.

Winds of up to 30 m.p.h. produced wind chill factors of 35 below zero at Huntsville, Ala.

School closings were reported in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Florida citrus farmers flooded their groves Monday, prepared oil heaters and banked soil around young trees as they got ready for freezing temperatures they feared could be as damaging as the frosts of 1983, which ruined more than 100,000 acres of citrus crops, and 1985, when an additional 80,000 acres were hit.

Much of Fruit on Trees

About two-thirds of the season’s grapefruit and oranges are still ripening on the trees and could be destroyed if temperatures stay below 28 degrees for four to six hours, Doug Bournique, head of the Indian River Citrus League, said.