Cold Wave Spreads to South, Threatens Florida Citrus Crops

Bone-chilling arctic weather threatened Florida’s citrus crops Sunday as the cold snap that has swept across most of the nation spread south.

Citrus growers in central Florida raced to pick fruit as forecasters predicted the thermometer could touch near-record lows.

Temperatures near Orlando could dive below 24 degrees for several hours, threatening oranges, grapefruits and other crops.

Citrus fruit is damaged when temperatures fall below 28 degrees for more than four hours. About half of the state’s $1.2-billion citrus crop was still on the trees.

Temperatures fell to record lows Sunday from the Rockies, where it was 14 below zero at Pueblo, Colo., to the East Coast, where Georgetown, Del., bottomed out at 6 above. Ely, Minn., had a record low of 46 below zero.

In North Carolina and South Carolina, more than 300,000 people were without electricity after ice snapped power lines. North Carolina Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. declared the snow, sleet and freezing rain the worst natural disaster in years and asked President Clinton to declare a state of emergency.

About 32 emergency shelters opened across the region.

Chicago woke up to temperatures of minus 14. At least seven people have died in the last few days in fires they started while trying to keep warm, and a spokesman for the mayor’s office said three people died of exposure.

The past week of snow, ice and record cold has been blamed for 61 deaths across the Lower 48 states. Most occurred in traffic accidents on icy roads.

Forecasters said temperatures are expected to rise over the next few days in the Midwest.

“It looks as though the worst is over. Temperatures should be more moderate, and it will get warmer as the week progresses,” said meteorologist Richard Wilson of Weather Services Corp. in Lexington, Mass.