Warming trend arrives

After two nights that turned yards into ice cube trays, Hernando County residents can unshroud plants and hang up their jackets for about the next week or so.

The season's first true bite of cold is gone, and at least daytime temperatures should get back to the normal range by the weekend, leaving nights a tad chilly but not even close to the freezing levels folks saw Wednesday and Thursday mornings.

It may take a week or more, though, for homeowners to tell whether the cold damaged their citrus trees.

Today will continue a warming trend, with temperatures hitting the upper 60s near the coast and around 70 over inland areas, said Colleen Rhea, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Ruskin.

The 70-degree mark is about where we should be in the afternoons this time of year, she said, and afternoons should stay in the 70s for the coming days.

Nights will probably get into the middle 40s and inch into the upper 40s by the end of the weekend and next week.

Rain isn't in the picture until about the middle of next week, when forecasters expect an area of low pressure to make its way over the Gulf of Mexico. The approaching front will push rain chances on Wednesday to 20 percent, Rhea said.

Though the low-pressure area appears fairly potent now, it is too far away to tell what effect it might have in six days.

"A lot depends on how the air masses move. As we get closer, we'll know more," Rhea said.

The past slug of frigid weather pushed low temperatures close to record levels across West Central Florida but not down far enough to tie or break any marks, she said.

On Wednesday, Brooksville trailed only the Citrus County community of Hernando in the low temperature race among 15 counties from Lee to Levy, with 18 degrees. Hernando in Citrus County saw 17 degrees.

On Thursday, Brooksville hit 20 degrees, the lowest temperature the weather service measured in the 15 counties.

The freezing temperatures dropped low enough to threaten some backyard citrus trees, though the worst of the damage may not show up for a few days to a couple weeks, said Jim Oleson, owner of Boyette's Grove in Spring Lake.

Atop a hill, the grove escaped damage with temperatures hitting 28 for a few hours, he said.

Homeowners should watch the leaves of their trees for signs of damage, such as turning brown, he said, but not worry if they fall off. That shows the tree survived and is shedding the leaves.

Leaves that turn brown but stay on the tree could signal some damage.

"If the tree doesn't lose the leaves, it's a bad sign," he said.

Cutting into the fruit can show if the freeze did any damage to the citrus in a week or two. Slushy fruit or white spots reflect damage.

But you can still use the fruit for juice, Oleson said.

Homeowners should resist trimming any damaged branches until the spring, when the threat of future freezes passes.

"You want the tree to be dormant," he said.