Arctic cold, snowfall expected to continue

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Subfreezing temperatures across the South have Florida farmers worried that strawberry, tomato and other crops could be destroyed, with temperatures in even usually balmy Miami only in the 50s on Tuesday.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist signed an executive order that gives the state’s Division of Emergency Management and other agencies the authority to provide growers with assistance. Throughout central and south Florida, farmers are trying to salvage millions of dollars’ worth of citrus and vegetable crops, spraying them in protective layers of ice and covering them in plastic.

Forecasters say the Southern deep freeze will last through the weekend, likely breaking records for continuous cold temperatures in many parts of Florida and elsewhere.

Waves of Arctic air pushed into central Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. Many Southern homes aren’t built to handle that type of cold, with uninsulated pipes and heat pumps that will have to run all the time just to keep things barely comfortable.

Charleston, S.C., was expecting subfreezing overnight lows all week. Parts of West Virginia could see 4 to 8 inches of snow by this morning, and many counties canceled school Tuesday ahead of the storm. 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 eastern U.S. not only was dealing with subfreezing temperatures, but parts of New England were under record snowfall. In Burlington, a storm dumped more than 33 inches, breaking a single-storm record of nearly 30 inches set in 1969.

In Northeast Ohio, forecasters say snow will continue to fall in areas that already have 2 feet or more on the ground. The National Weather Service said areas in the region’s “snow belt” could receive up to 8 more inches of lake-effect snow on Tuesday. The weather caused hundreds of school closings and delays in Arkansas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and the North Carolina mountains.