Cold snap continues in Calif., but no crop damage
Jan 14, 2013, 9:20 AM
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Southern California residents worked to stay warm and growers in the Central Valley fought to protect citrus crops from overnight lows as a regional cold snap entered another day Monday.
Alerts predicting freezing temperatures and frost that started late last week were becoming familiar in much of the state, with new high wind warnings in place for the mountains around Los Angeles.
In Hollywood, film fans brought heavy coats and scarves as they waited along the red carpet hoping to catch glimpses of stars arriving for the Golden Globes ceremony Sunday evening. Some of the actors shivered but they weren’t complaining.
“I’d rather be nippy than boiling hot,” said actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who arrived in a strapless dress. “No, I’m not wearing any leggings or long underwear.”
Farmers hoped for another night of successful crop protection, as they ran wind machines and water to shield their fruit.
Spokesman Paul Story of California Citrus Mutual, a growers’ trade association, said so far most orange and lemon crops probably avoided significant damage despite temperatures early Sunday in the high 20s.
“For the navel oranges, that’s not cold enough to do a measurable amount of damage,” said Story.
He said more sensitive mandarin oranges may have suffered some minimal damage.
In the Los Angeles area, famously torrid Woodland Hills, which usually makes news for its triple-digit temperatures, hit a low of 30 degrees Sunday morning. That was warm compared to Lancaster in north Los Angeles County, which hit 15 degrees.
Temperatures were predicted to reach the low 20s for the second straight night in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In the East Bay city of Walnut Creek, the National Weather Service reported a weekend low of 23 degrees, while in the Santa Clara County community of Scotts Valley, the temperature dropped to 26.
Meanwhile, in the Sierra Nevada, another subzero night was expected after a day in the 20s.
In San Diego, zookeepers offered extra heat and shelter for some animals.
The cold air was flowing east into neighboring Arizona, where metropolitan Phoenix was marking one of its coldest stretches in year. Temperatures over the weekend dipped to 30 degrees at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. They fell well below zero in mountainous Flagstaff.
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