UF/IFAS photo by Tyler Jones
By Chris Oswalt
There was a time back in 1962, on Dec. 12 and 13, when a devastating freeze in Florida decimated a significant portion of the state’s citrus industry. In Polk County, the freeze caused serious damage to 134,000 acres of citrus. In 1963, citrus growers were concerned about receiving timely weather information and frost warning bulletins. Back then, the Federal-State Frost Warning Service in Lakeland provided the agricultural weather forecasts, including the frost-warning bulletins.
With the assistance of the Federal-State Frost Warning Service and