Californians deal with freezing temps, snow
Fiona Chiang shields her face from blowing sand as she walks north on Carlsbad Boulevard in Carlsbad, Calif. Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013. Southern California is bracing for a cold snap that is expected to drop temperatures to a six-year low. (AP Photo/U-T San Diego, Bill Wechter) SAN DIEGO COUNTY OUT; NO SALES; COMMERCIAL INTERNET OUT; FOREIGN OUT
Bundled up against the elements, a boy catches a football as frigid, gusting winds blow sand in drifts across a boardwalk on a nearly-deserted beach near the pier at Santa Monica, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013. Strawberry growers are covering their crops while San Diego zookeepers are turning on heaters for the chimpanzees as Southern California braces for a cold snap expected to drop temperatures to a six-year low. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
Closed I-5 northbound lanes are shown empty of traffic due to snow and ice Friday Jan. 11, 2013 near Gorman, Calif. California authorities on Friday reopened this 40-mile stretch of a major highway north of Los Angeles, some 17 hours after snow shut the route and forced hundreds of truckers to spend the cold night in their rigs.(AP Photo/Nick Ut)
LOS ANGELES >> Some of California’s hottest spots went from sweltering to shivering today as early morning temperatures plunged, leaving even polar bears at the San Diego Zoo seeking shelter. But growers in the Central Valley were relieved to learn most orange and lemon crops probably avoided significant damage for another night despite temperatures in the high 20s.
“We were just a little bit colder, by a degree or two,” said spokesman Paul Story of California Citrus Mutual, a growers’ trade association. “For the navel oranges, that’s not cold enough to do a measurable amount of damage.”
A possible exception was the smaller, more fragile mandarin orange.
“We might see a bit of damage in the mandarin crop,” Story said. “I talked to our major mandarin people, and it’s not significant yet.”
It was the third night of successful crop protection for farmers, who run wind machines and water to protect their fruit, but growers weren’t done yet.
“We’ve got at least one more night of cold temperatures,” Story said.
Two of the hottest spots in the Los Angeles area — the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys — saw sub-freezing predawn temperatures Sunday.
Famously torrid Woodland Hills, which usually makes news for its triple-digit temperatures, had an overnight low of 30 degrees. That was warm compared to Lancaster in north Los Angeles County, which hit 15 degrees.
Temperatures reached the low 20s in the San Francisco Bay area.
In the East Bay city of Walnut Creek, the National Weather Service reported an overnight low of 23 degrees, while in the Santa Clara County community of Scotts Valley, the temperature dropped to 26.
Forecasters said even with a day of sunshine, temperatures across the Bay Area were expected to get no higher than the low 50s Sunday.
Meanwhile, in the Sierra Nevada, temperatures plunged below zero overnight, and after a day in the 20s, another subzero night is expected.
In San Diego, zookeepers offered extra heat and shelter for some animals, including polar bears. While the bears tolerate frigid climes, the zoo animals lack the fat layers that naturally occur in the wild to protect them from the cold, so zookeepers offer them “warming apparatuses,” zoo spokeswoman Jenny Mehlow said.
“The animals do take this in stride because they’re wearing a nice, warm fur coat,” she said.
