Frigid temperatures settle in

By Carrie A. Mizell

Temperatures dipped into the low 20s this week in Gilchrist County sending residents in search of wool coats and firewood.
Tuesday marked the coldest day of the week as some local residents saw their temperature gauges register 22 degrees. Temperatures were predicted to rise as high as 57 degrees on Thursday, though the Weather Channel called for a 40 percent chance of rain on Friday followed by more frigid weather over the weekend.

Photo by Mary Rogers of Trenton

While the county was under a hard freeze warning for much of the week, Gilchrist County Emergency Management Chief Ron Mills sent out a weather bulletin reminding citizens to protect themselves, pets, plants and household pipes from the freezing temperatures.
Gilchrist County Fire Chief Carlos Perez said that the county has seen a surprisingly low number of fires related to heaters this winter after a rash of such fires last year.
“We had one chimney fire around Christmas in the northwest section of the county,” Perez said. “But to be honest, my concern is bad grass fires resulting from vegetation that will dry out in this cold weather.”
Southern Fuelwood in Newberry reported a shortage of firewood on Monday due to a rush of customers anxious to purchase the kindling to stay warm over the weekend. At press time, officials at Southern Fuelwood said they were working diligently to build the company’s inventory back up to meet the high demand.
After being closed last week for the Christmas-New Year holidays, Beauchamp Saw Shop in Chiefland also reported seeing an increase in the number of customers who came in on Monday to have their chain saws serviced allowing them to cut their own firewood.
In terms of local agriculture, it’s too early in the season for the freezing temperatures to damage area watermelon crops considering most plants will not be set in the ground until February.
Unfortunately growers in central Florida have had to take preventive measures to save strawberry plants that are already producing ripe, juicy berries.
Many growers sprayed water on their fields, which builds ice domes over the tops of the plants, keeping temperatures at 32 degrees. Ideally such measures would protect the fruit from damage.