Freeze warning for Northern California

To other unfortunate Northern Californians: 

In case you have not listened to the Weather Service recently, we are
supposed to have a near repeat of the 1990 Christmas deep freeze
beginning on Sunday night. Temperatures in the teens predicted for the
Sacramento Valley floor. The arctic blast may last for 5 days according
to the predictions. I'm not sure how far south the cold is supposed to
go, but last time it was about the same all the way to Bakersfield.  

I've spent most of today and will devote all of tomorrow to hauling all
the hundreds of flats of starts into the greenhouse and consolidating as
many of the other container plants where the sprinklers can be turned on
until the freeze is over.  In 1990 we had a foot of ice frozen over the
canyards by the time it began to thaw, but the plants underneath were
fine.  As long as water is being applied faster than it can freeze, the
temperature of the "ice/water system" will not drop below 32F.
Inconvenient and for some people, expensive, but it works. The citrus
and bauhinia have just started to look good again after the last freeze. 

I guess that's the breaks trying to pretend we're subtropical at the
42nd parallel! The plants that survive this without protection are the
truly hardy ones here.

Gary  Matson, Far Northern California
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