Cold Deals Growers Heavy Blow : Weather: Overnight lows should be higher beginning tonight, forecasters say, but the bitter cold could return by the middle of next week.

A winter frost described as one of the worst in recent years destroyed a significant portion of the county’s strawberry crop Thursday, and area growers were scrambling to protect their remaining plants from a second night of freezing temperatures.

Most spots in the county reported lows in the 30s Thursday morning, but temperatures in some places fell into the 20s. The county’s coldest spot was southeast Irvine, where the temperature dipped to a record-breaking 22 degrees. The previous record was 23, recorded in Orange on Feb. 15, 1942, county historian Jim Sleeper said.

The cold snap is the aftermath of an Alaskan cold front that was blasting through Southern California this week, said Rick Dittmann, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. The front has settled in the Rocky Mountains, Dittmann said. Temperatures were expected to fall below freezing in much of the county Thursday night and early this morning, Dittmann said. Although higher temperatures are predicted beginning tonight, freezing conditions could return by the middle of next week, he said.

For today, forecasts called for increasing afternoon clouds with high temperatures in the 50s and 60s and lows in the 30s and 40s. Weekend weather could include showers beginning late Saturday and continuing through Monday; highs ranging from the 40s to the 60s are expected.

The chill has also affected the county’s homeless population, which is estimated at about 10,000. Scott Mather, chairman of the Orange County Homeless Task Force, said that already overtaxed private shelters were strained beyond capacity Wednesday night and early Thursday. In addition, about 250 people went to the two National Guard armories that were opened because of the cold.

“Most of the shelters are full every night, no matter how cold it is,” Mather said. The armories have been opened about 10 times so this year, he said, when nighttime temperatures have dipped below 40 degrees.

At dawn Thursday, icicles were hanging off fences around farm fields, and Laguna Canyon Road was covered with a hazardous coat of ice. Laguna Beach police said the road was treated with a combination of sand and cat-box litter to keep drivers from skidding around the dangerous curve known as Big Bend.

“Ice formed about a quarter-inch thick on our fields, and there were icicles around the strawberry leaves and the sprinklers,” said Paul Murai of Murai Farms on Laguna Canyon Road in Irvine. Murai shook his head in dismay Thursday as he was surveying the damage to 150 acres of strawberry fields.

Murai estimated that he lost 25% of ripe strawberries and blossoms that would have produced fruit in another month. He added that about 120 workers were expected to arrive at the farm this

morning to pick the damaged berries, which will be used for juice.

“This is probably the worst frost we’ve had in three years,” Murai said. “And when it comes this late in the year, we have the potential of losing a lot more money because the crops are all ready” to pick.

Similarly, farm owner John Magarro estimated that he sustained a 25% loss to the more than 4,000 tons of berries produced on his 150 acres.

Growers protected their fruits, vegetables, trees and nursery plants with techniques that included wind machines, sprinklers, smudge pots, thermal coverings called “hot caps” and special frost-resistant chemical coatings.

“Most of us have been up since 10 p.m.” Wednesday, Magarro said Thursday morning of the efforts to protect his fields. “We’ll be out again” Thursday night, he said.

Alice Volkert at SeaTree Nurseries in Irvine said Thursday that workers there were preparing for the cold by refueling smudge pots, readying wind machines and sprinklers. They also were trying to get some sleep during the day so that they could make it through another all-night vigil, Volkert said. The nursery has managed to save most of its trees so far, she said.

At the 400-acre Magarro Farms in east Irvine, employee Dominic Etcheberria said the strawberry harvest season, which normally reaches its peak in April and May, would be delayed four to six weeks this year because of the cold. Strawberries are typically planted in October, and the first berries harvested in January, he said.

Citrus crops, avocado groves, vegetables and nursery plants appeared to have suffered the least frost damage, according to early estimates by John Ellis, the county’s deputy agricultural commissioner. Some winter tomato crops may have been destroyed by the frost, however, Ellis said.

“Citrus trees are better able to hold their own against the cold,” Ellis said. Because the sugar content of the fruit is higher at this time of year, he said, the citrus trees probably suffered less damage than they would have a month ago.

Valencia oranges are the county’s biggest citrus crop, he said, and these are harvested in late March and in April.

El Modeno Gardens, a wholesale nursery in Irvine, had covered its plants with heavy plastic but still lost some less hardy ones, said JoAnne Groot Beall, vice president of operations for the firm. Those lost included flowering specimens such as marguerites, hibiscus and bougainvillea, Beall said.