Arctic cold grips central, eastern US with freezing temps; Fla. farmers guard crops

Cold grips much of US, Fla. races to save crops

PENSACOLA, Fla. — A stubborn cold wave locked freezing temperatures in place across the central and eastern U.S. Wednesday as far south as Florida, where farmers worked to salvage millions of dollars’ worth of strawberries and other crops.

Arctic air was expected to hover through the weekend. In a rare turn for the South, forecasters warned that snow and ice were possible Thursday from South Carolina to Louisiana and wind chills in the region could get down to near zero at night.

A new winter storm brewed over the Northern Plains on Wednesday, promising more snow and deep wind chills from the Dakotas across the upper Midwest.

Freezing temperatures along with heavy snow hit parts of New England and created treacherous roads. In western New York, a woman and her infant daughter were killed late Tuesday when their car slid and slammed into a sport utility vehicle towing a trailer with two snowmobiles along a snow-covered roadway.

In Mississippi, authorities said a 68-year-old man died of hypothermia Tuesday. Two butane gas heaters were turned on inside Billy Joe Fuller’s house but the tank outside was empty, Lauderdale County Coroner Clayton Cobler said. At least four deaths in Tennessee this week have been tied to the bitter cold.

In central and south Florida, farmers were trying to salvage citrus and vegetable crops by spraying them in protective layers of ice and covering them in plastic. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist signed an executive order Wednesday that gave the state’s Division of Emergency Management and other agencies the authority to provide farmers with assistance.

In coastal North Carolina, volunteers were scrambling to save endangered sea turtles that were stunned by the cold and stranded off the Outer Banks.

Weather in the South this time of year is typically chilly for just a day or two before temperatures rebound into the 50s. Many homes weren’t built to handle such cold, with uninsulated pipes and heat pumps that must continuously run to keep things barely comfortable.

The game-time temperature for the Orange Bowl between Georgia Tech and Iowa was 49 degrees in Miami, which FOX-TV announcers said was a record for the annual college football game that started in 1935.

Vacationing college students from Ohio, Tara McCourry and Stephen McFarren, walked hand-in-hand Tuesday along picturesque Pensacola Beach, some of the few people braving the 27-degree wind chill. The couple watched pelicans, admired seashells and adjusted their hats and gloves as they buffered themselves against the wind.

“This is my first time in Florida and Florida is not supposed to be cold like this,” McCourry said.

Charleston, S.C., was expecting subfreezing overnight lows all week. A dusting of snow fell in western and central Kentucky overnight, heralding 3 to 5 inches expected in those areas, with some locally heavier amounts.

The cold weather has left behind record snowfall in some areas. In northeast Ohio, another 5 to 6 inches of snow fell Tuesday in an area already covered by 2 feet of snow, according to the National Weather Service.

Police in Erie County, N.Y., said Stephanie Ali, 22, lost control of her car Tuesday evening and crossed over into oncoming traffic in Grand Island, northwest of Buffalo near Niagara Falls. Ali and her 5-month-old daughter were killed. Investigators said the SUV driver could not have avoided hitting her.

In Vermont, the bad weather was blamed for several car accidents on slushy, slick roadways. In Hinesburg, a police officer was investigating a single-vehicle crash on Tuesday night when his cruiser was struck from behind by a teenager driving on roads that were covered in ice because of freezing rain. Minor injuries and vehicle damage were reported.

Contributing to this report were David Dishneau in Hagerstown, Md.; John Curran in Montpelier, Vt.; Tamara Lush in Tampa, Fla.; John Raby in Charleston, W.Va.; Erin Gartner in Chicago; Dino Hazell in Philadelphia; and Holbrook Mohr in Jackson, Miss.