Frost/Freeze in Inland Collier, Florida

A continental air mass moved over Florida the weekend of January 7-8, with the parent high pressure system moving directly over the Florida peninsula on the night/early morning of the 7th and 8th. This created ideal radiational cooling conditions, and temperatures dropped to at or below freezing over interior sections of South Florida during the pre-dawn and early morning hours of the 8th. Minimum temperatures were as low as 29 degrees at the Florida Agricultural Weather Network (FAWN) station in Belle Glade. Other minimum temperature readings were: 30 at Palmdale and 31 at Immokalee, Ortona, and Devils Garden. Temperatures were at or below freezing for 2 to 4 hours at some locations. This caused some crop damage to approximately 410,000 acres in Western Palm Beach County. Roughly 1000 farms and nurseries were affected. Damage was particularly severe to the snap bean crop, with estimates of 80-90 percent losses. The sweet corn crop also suffered significantly, with about 25 to 50 percent loss.