The December freezes plaguing the region's farmers and frustrating warm-weather lovers broke records early Tuesday across Southwest Florida and set a new record low of 27 degrees at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.
Still, it appeared that Florida citrus growers dodged a catastrophic statewide freeze, though some vegetable farmers experienced pockets of severe cold that in places wiped out what was left of squash, pepper, green bean and corn crops.
"This is one of the top five coldest months of December on record," said Logan Johnson, a forecaster with the National Weather Service. "It's just been a persistent cold, a cold below normal. It's something that doesn't happen every year and happens more like every 10 years."
Forecasters say this month will likely go down as the coldest December in the past 100 years of record-keeping. The average temperature recorded at Sarasota-Bradenton International so far this month is 52.8 degrees, according to the weather service.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Sarasota, FL).
