Photographer: Zak Bennett/Bloomberg
(Bloomberg) — The US Southeast is making final preparations for a powerful Atlantic storm as yet another blast of Arctic air surges south, threatening to smash temperature records and putting Florida’s citrus belt at risk of a damaging freeze.
Central Florida’s orange-growing region could see single-digit wind chills beginning late Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. Orlando and Tampa will be on freeze alerts, a rarity for an area accustomed to mild winters.
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Most of Polk County in Central Florida, the state’s biggest citrus producing county, is within the zone expected to face below-freezing temperatures. That county in the prior season produced nearly 30% of Florida’s total orange output in terms of boxes, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
Further north, heavy snow is expected to arrive in the Carolinas by Saturday morning, with more than eight inches (20 centimeters) forecast in some places and the potential for prolonged blizzard conditions as winds gust in the hardest-hit areas.
Roughly 1,000 flights have been canceled within the US this weekend, according to FlightAware. Half of them are at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, a major aviation hub that could see up to two inches of snow by Saturday night.
The storm will strike a region still digging out from last week’s sprawling storm, which coated much of the eastern and central US in snow and ice. In the Carolinas, state officials are preparing snowplows and urging drivers to stay off the roads, as temperatures drop low enough to turn melted slush back to ice.
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein warned the impending storm “could disrupt daily life for several days” as road conditions deteriorate once again.
“I’m grateful to the emergency and first responders who have been working their tails off to keep us safe through these back-to-back weather events,” Stein said in a statement Friday.
The heavy snow in the forecast is less likely to cause power outages than last weekend’s burst of freezing rain and ice. But more than 200,000 homes and businesses — mostly in Tennessee and Mississippi — were still without power as of 4:30 p.m. New York time Friday.
“Some of the worst stuff is coming up this weekend, for people in the South that don’t have electricity — and obviously with that, the ability for heat,” said Bob Oravec, a senior branch forecaster for the US Weather Prediction Center in Maryland.
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Already-frigid temperatures in the eastern half of the country will continue to slide as more icy air barrels down from the pole. While major East Coast cities — including Washington, Boston and New York — may see little more than a dusting this weekend, gusting winds will drive wind chills well below 0F (-18C).
Photographer: Mel Musto/Bloomberg
New York City has just wrapped one of its coldest weeks on record, according to the Weather Prediction Center. The Mid-Atlantic hasn’t seen such a deep, extended cold snap since 1989.
As the rapidly-strengthening storm churns back out to sea late in the weekend, it is also expected to bring strong winds and coastal flooding across the Eastern seaboard, potentially worsened by high tides from Sunday’s full moon.
Barring a major shift in the storm track, much of the Northeast is likely to avoid another dumping of snow. Boston may see a few inches at most, according to the National Weather Service, and a light dusting is possible in New York.
Demand for heating has soared, and power prices have at times spiked to unprecedented heights. In Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC, real-time prices topped $1,000 a megawatt-hour at 5:40 p.m. Friday, more than double the day-ahead prices in the same section of the grid. New York City wholesale power will peak at $313.71 a megawatt-hour early Saturday evening. That’s down 39% from Friday’s hourly high, but similar to levels seen last weekend, according to data from the state grid operator.
New York Independent System Operator Inc. is also offering to pay large-scale customers enrolled in an incentive program to cut back their consumption Friday and Saturday, beginning in the late afternoon and extending until 10 p.m. local time both days.
The move is intended to shore up resources after sundown, as temperatures dip even lower and New Yorkers crank their heaters.
With temperatures expected to remain below normal into next week, the US Energy Department has extended emergency orders allowing the biggest US grid — PJM Interconnection LLC, which serves the Mid-Atlantic and New Jersey — to exceed emissions limits. One order would allow PJM to direct data centers to run backup generators, reducing stress on the grid.
As of Thursday, PJM said the extension is a precaution in case natural gas supplies falter or power plants fail after running for days at full throttle.
The Energy Department has also extended two emergency orders allowing Duke Energy to use power generators in the Carolinas beyond emissions and other operating limits until Feb. 3, Acting Under Secretary Alex Fitzsimmons said in a phone interview.
The cold push into Florida has raised the odds for temperatures falling below 28F (-2C) across the northeastern third of the state’s citrus belt, Commodity Weather Group’s Joe Woznicki wrote in a note.
“Overall, this remains a very strong freeze event and is likely to have large impacts on Florida citrus,” Woznicki wrote.
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