Calif. chills, but dodges crop damage in cold snap
California braces for yet another frigid night, but consequences minimal
Heidi Blood carries her dog to the side of the road for a drink of water while waiting in line with her car along Interstate 5 north of Los Angeles on Friday, Jan. 11, 2013. The California Highway Patrol has partially reopened a 40-mile stretch of Interstate 5 north of Los Angeles that was closed for many hours due to snow. The CHP began escorting southbound motorists through the high mountain pass Friday morning. Northbound lanes are still closed. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Residents remained bundled up and growers in the Central Valley again took measures to protect their citrus crops Sunday, as California's cold snap entered its fourth night.
Alerts predicting freezing temperatures and frost were becoming familiar in much of the state, with new high wind warnings in place for the mountains around Los Angeles beginning early Monday.
In Hollywood, film fans brought heavy coats and scarves as they waited along the red carpet hoping to catch glimpses of stars arriving for the Golden Globes ceremony. Some of the actors shivered but they weren't complaining.
"I'd rather be nippy than boiling hot," said actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who arrived in a strapless dress. "No, I'm not wearing any leggings or long underwear."
Farmers hoped for another night of successful crop protection, as they ran wind machines and water to shield their fruit.
Spokesman Paul Story of California Citrus Mutual, a growers' trade association, said so far most orange and lemon crops probably avoided significant damage despite temperatures early Sunday in the high 20s.
"For the navel oranges, that's not cold enough to do a measurable amount of damage," said Story.
He said more sensitive mandarin oranges may have suffered some minimal damage.
In the Los Angeles area, famously torrid Woodland Hills, which usually makes news for its triple-digit temperatures, hit a low of 30 degrees Sunday morning. That was warm compared to Lancaster in north Los Angeles County, which hit 15 degrees.
Temperatures reached the low 20s in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In the East Bay city of Walnut Creek, the National Weather Service reported a low of 23 degrees, while in the Santa Clara County community of Scotts Valley, the temperature dropped to 26.
Meanwhile, in the Sierra Nevada, temperatures plunged below zero overnight, and after a day in the 20s, another subzero night was expected.
In San Diego, zookeepers offered extra heat and shelter for some animals.
The cold air was flowing east into neighboring Arizona, where metropolitan Phoenix was approaching the halfway point in a four-day cold snap that's expected to mark the coolest stretch the area has seen since 1988. Temperatures late Saturday dipped to 30 degrees at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and 25 degrees.
Low temperatures across Arizona included 23 at Tucson International Airport and 7 below in Flagstaff.
