ICEMAN COMETH INTO SOUTHLAND.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer

A cold snap that has numbed the region at night, breaking records in Woodland Hills, Chatsworth and Lancaster, is expected to continue at least through the weekend, forecasters said Monday.

The frigid nighttime temperatures have shriveled plants and sent the homeless in search of shelter while residents burrowed under blankets and turned up the heat.

The temperature overnight Sunday in Woodland Hills bottomed out at 25 degrees, breaking the record of 30 degrees for the date set in 1985, according to the National Weather Service. In Chatsworth, where the temperature dropped to a record 36 in 1985, it fell to 34 on Sunday. Lancaster hit 18 degrees, beating the previous record of 22, set in 1948.

The forecast for today is a range between 34 and 63 degrees in Woodland Hills, well below the November average range of 43 to 74.

``It hasn't been to freezing in Boston or New York City yet, but it has in Woodland Hills,'' noted National Weather Service meteorologist Dave Bruno. ``That won't last for long, but for now we can say it hasn't been as cold on the East Coast as it has here - at least during the morning hours. We're better during the day.''

During the daytime Monday, the thermometer hit 68 degrees in Woodland Hills, but that was well below the November average high of 74.

A cold system has been stuck over the region for almost 10 days now, Bruno said. While Wednesday and Thursday are expected to be about three degrees warmer, temperatures will drop again over the weekend.

``We're stuck in a fairly persistent pattern, where we have a (low temperature) trough over the West,'' Bruno said. ``It's unusual that that doesn't change. Every time it tries to move away, something pulls it back over us. Lucky us.''

Millie Lee, 39, of Reseda said she was greeted with ice on her lawn Monday morning.

``It's just really cold, and it's affected my health. I'm getting more allergies,'' she said.

Not everybody was complaining, though.

``Right now I can go out there with shorts,'' said Randy Edwards, a Starbucks employee at Tarzana, who moved here from Minnesota two years ago. ``To me, it is OK, but everyone else is walking in with jackets.''

Cal Wright, a longtime salesman at Green Thumb Nursery in Canoga Park, said many customers have returned tropical trees that were frost-damaged. The store accommodates them, but Wright advised people to protect the most susceptible trees and flowers, such as avocado trees and annuals.

``When the frost hits the tree, it retards the tree, and nine times out of 10, it won't come back if it hits it hard,'' Wright said.

The city is also gearing up now to open extra cold-weather beds for the homeless.

With an estimated 40,000 people homeless in the city of Los Angeles, the extra 2,101 beds that the city will provide starting Saturday - in addition to 13,632 provided year-round - will not be enough, said Ruth Schwartz, executive director of Shelter Partnership, a nonprofit group.

From Saturday to Dec. 15, as well as during March, the extra beds will be available only when there is a 50 percent chance of rain or when temperatures dip below 40 degrees, she said. From Dec. 16 to Feb. 28, they will always be available, she said.

In Ventura County, the cold snap brought spotty frost to the valleys, but not the kind of lasting freeze that seriously damages citrus crops, agricultural officials said.

Overnight lows dipped to the upper 30s in east and west valleys, including the Santa Clarita River and Las Posas valleys, and fell to the lower 30s in smaller canyons, including Ojai, officials said.

``It's early in the year, so it's kind of an attention-getter cold snap,'' said Terry Schaeffer, an agricultural meteorologist who monitors local conditions.

PLANT WARMERS

With an early cold snap hitting the region this week, gardening enthusiasts should take careful steps to protect the plants that are most vulnerable, such as cacti, begonias, orange trees, succulents and annuals.

The following tips come from Yvonne Savio, who runs the University of California's Common Ground gardening instruction program in Los Angeles County, and Cal Wright, a veteran employee at Green Thumb Nursery in Canoga Park:

--Outdoor plants in containers should be moved underneath overhangs of your home, preferably on the south side, so they will be warmed by the sun. Watch out for low-lying areas of your property that seem to trap cold air.

--Keep plants well-watered and healthy. A plant's action of moving the water internally creates energy and therefore heat, Savio said, while the water itself keeps the plant strong.

--In the morning, before the sun is shining on the plants, remove frost by spraying with water.

--If plants are damaged, do not prune them until the cold season is over. Leaving damaged leaves in place protects the healthier leaves underneath.

--Cover larger trees, such as orange, overnight with fabric, such as burlap or an old sheet. Plastic covering is not preferred, but if you use it, keep it from touching the plant or tree itself, because the plastic will conduct cold.

--Smaller plants can be covered with a pyramid-shape paper cap or a thin layer of cloth.

--If your lawn is hit by frost, don't walk on it. Instead, water it first.

CAPTION(S):

photo, 2 boxes

Photo:

(color) Logan Simi, 10, looks at the icicles Monday in his grandfather's yard in Lancaster. They sprouted from sprinklers.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer

Box: (1) BRRR!

Source: National Weather Service

Daily News

(2) PLANT WARMERS (See text)