Hurricane Irma pummeled Florida’s citrus crop in September, and now a hard freeze is possible in the northeastern portion of the citrus belt, says weather consultancy Radiant Solutions. “Most citrus areas should escape significant damage from this cold event; however, the northeastern 15 percent of the belt may see some fruit losses due to the freeze on Friday morning,” said Don Keeney, Radiant’s senior agricultural meteorologist.
“Warmer conditions Sunday through next week will end frost threats across the citrus belt,” said Keeney. Cold weather moved into Florida’s citrus-growing regions on Thursday and was forecast to persist through Saturday, with Friday as the coldest day of all.
Florida is usually the top citrus state in the nation, although its production of oranges, the No. 1 citrus crop nationwide, has fallen in recent years due to citrus greening disease and bad weather. Before Irma arrived, growers expected a rebound this year; instead, there is a possibility that California will be the top orange state and Texas will be No. 1 in grapefruit. The USDA has lowered its estimate of Florida’s orange crop two months in a row; the agency is scheduled to issue a new forecast on Jan. 12. The current USDA forecast for Florida’s orange crop is 46 million boxes, 12 million boxes below the initial estimate in October and 33 percent smaller than last season’s crop.
The Packer, a trade publication, said citrus crops in California and Texas, like Florida, saw little damage from cold weather in late December and early January. It quoted Florida Citrus Mutual, a growers’ cooperative, as saying that temperatures in the state’s northern growing region registered in the upper 20s on Thursday morning but that there were no reports of significant damage.