it s cold in here. maybe it s the short sleeves. whatever. anyway, temperatures are cold. still across the southeast. this is really the worst last blast of it for the overnight temperatures. you can see our windchill already, down to 31 in orlando. 28 degrees is the temperature your body feels in tampa. really tough to deal with this. it s been a week temperatures have been below freezing in gainesville, and florida in and out of it throughout the week. check out the pictures of the orlando area showing you the experiences that have been going on in the sunshine state. yes, the number one concern, of course, is that crop out there. the citrus crop. they ve been spraying those crops with the water, which creates a protective coating. it kind of insulates them a little bit. we won t know for weeks from what i understand before we know how bad the damage has been. i m going to say when we re looking at a week with temperatures below freezing at nighttime we are going to have some problem
proposition. and you could end up paying for it. cnn s martin savidge is in ft. lauderdale tonight. reporter: randi, south florida s bracing for another bitter cold night. however, the hope is that it s the last really cold night for some time. already there is a freeze warning that s in effect and a wind chill advisory as the costs of this cold spell are really adding up. the prolonged brutal cold is taking a toll on the sunshine state. and john arnold is paying it. he s surveying the impact nights of below freezing temperatures have had on his family s citrus orchards in central florida. a slice with a knife delivers the news. this is ruined. it s all ice there. reporter: arnold puts his loss at $500,000. statewide, according to those who monitor the citrus industry, the damage is substantial, but so far not catastrophic. it ll take weeks to determine what it may mean for consumers. florida is also the nation s second largest producer of
but there are certainly areas especially to the north for citrus fruits that have suffers severely. one of the farmers said he lost at least half a million worth of his crop. last night was another cold night and, in fact, they expect more freezing possible this night. so it s still a difficult time for the orange ygrowers. farming is done at many levels here. strawberries, florida is the second largest producer for the united states and that crop has been hard hit. it will be weeks before they can ascertain how bad the impact will be for consumers. meanwhile, as you can see by the background here it s already impacting tourism. one week doesn t make a season, but there are a lot of tourists going home with not so warm memories of their florida vacation of the past week. martin savidge, cnn, ft. lauderdale. six more weeks of winter? we wish. the cold isn t going to snap, is it?
considered exceptional. there s been no significant rain for nearly a year, and searing temperatures are drying up the water supply. how high is this usually? usually up to about here. this is usually the waterline. hueys says he s lucky. many of his neighbors have no water at all. the cotton crop is even worse. while these have reached maturity, they re very poor. these plans should be so thick thatished wall through the rows. this is the bezel 0 aches and the worst i ve grown in eight years. cotton is usually his cash crop. the corn is no better. this ought to be up here, and this ear ought to be up here. he ll year about 15 percent.
how high is this usually? usually up to about here. this is kind of the edge of the this is usually the water line. he says he s lucky many of had of his neighbors have no water at all, the could the. skrop even worse. while thee have reached maturity now, they re very poor. these plants should be so thick i can t walk through the row. we ve got 80 acres out of cotton and this is the best 80 acres and it s the worst in 12 years. could ttton is usually his c crop. now it will cost more to harvest than he ll make, the corn is no better. this ought to be up here and this ear ought to be up here. he ll yield about 15% of his corn and cotton crops. depressing? this is sickening. he s counting on a federal emergency disaster fund approved in 2008 but so far, nobody has