Icicles hang from orange trees and palm trees in Florida - pics

[Kadie]

Icicles hang from an orange tree after it was sprayed with water throughout the night in Plant City, Florida January 6, 2010. The water was sprayed to protect the other plants in the nursery from the cold weather.


Icicles hang from an orange tree after it was sprayed with water throughout the night in Plant City, Florida January 6, 2010. The water was sprayed to protect the other plants in the nursery from the cold weather.


Icicles hang from an orange tree after it was sprayed with water throughout the night in Plant City, Florida January 6, 2010. The water was sprayed to protect the other plants in the nursery from the cold weather.


Icicles hang from a palm tree after being sprayed with water throughout the night to protect it from the cold weather in Plant City, Florida January 6, 2010.


Icicles cling to a palm tree Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010, in Lakeland, Fla. Farmers spray their crops to help protect them against the cold temperatures. Temperatures in the area dipped into the mid-20's, and farmers are working to salvage millions of dollars' worth of strawberries and other crops.


Icicles hang from the branches of a Palm tree Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010, in Lakeland, Fla. Farmers spray their crops to help protect them against the cold temperatures. Temperatures in the area dipped into the mid-20's, and farmers are working to salvage millions of dollars' worth of strawberries and other crops.

[virgogal]

1. Great pics but a tough situation.

[malaise]

2. Damn!

Bet there's some nice cold coconut water on some Florida trees

[Sanity Claws]

3. I hate to sound dumb but how does the ice protect the fruit?

[NYC_SKP]

5. "Latent heat of fusion":

What the orange growers are relying on is a thermodynamic property (in this case, of water) called latent heat of fusion. Basically, since water can exist in its solid and liquid form simultaneously ONLY at 32° F, it will stay at that temperature until it is all frozen. So for a short-lived cold snap, this strategy can protect one's orange trees by having the sprayed-on water freeze essentially instead of the orange. But if it stays below freezing for an extended period, the oranges will freeze, too.

:P

In simpler terms, having a frozen coat of ice on is better than being exposed to much colder air and having your fruity inside freeze solid!

[Igel]

11. That's part 1.

But if they continue to do that through the night it's likely that too much ice would build up and the plants would start losing limbs.

Part 2 is to combat windchill and dessication.

[tekisui]

6. It acts as an insulator from the air.

The air will be much colder and more damaging than the ice.

[Warpy]

7. Keeps it a bit warmer

Liquid water and 32 degree ice are infinitely preferable to 20 degree air.

Still, most of those oranges will have to be harvested immediately and used for juice or they'll just rot.

[Incitatus]

4. Global warming my ass!

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:sarcasm:

[Fla_Democrat]

9. Funny, I heard that a lot today

:smoke:

[Incitatus]

12. Yes, It's amazing how ignorant some people are.

[arcadian]

8. That is not a palm tree

It is a sago palm which is a misnomer for the plant is actually a cycad.

[lib2DaBone]

10. Good Pics. It hit the strawberry farms very hard.

All the strawberry farms in Central Florida were loaded with fruit... they got hit hard. I feel so sorry for those families.. I know how hard they work and how much it costs to put a crop in.

Global warming my ass. Global warming so the Goldman Sachs and Enron Grubs can trade carbon tax derivitives on the stock market.