RECORD-BREAKING CHILL GROWERS SCRAMBLE TO PROTECT CROPS.

Byline: RACHEL URANGA Staff Writer

A frigid cold wave filled homeless shelters and destroyed citrus crops across California and was expected to shatter dozens of half-century-old temperature records by today.

The snap sent a collective shiver down Angelenos' spines, although forecasters said Saturday it had not yet set any records and was expected to slowly thaw throughout the week ahead.

But threats of a sustained freeze Saturday night and early today still had growers scrambling to protect their remaining crops.

``I am worried that I am going to go out of business,'' said Bob Davis, a second-generation Ojai farmer who hurried to set out propane-fueled wind generators Saturday night.

Davis said his farm crews worked overtime tending fragile citrus and avocado crops.

``It's a tenuous situation,'' he said, noting that his tangerine, lemon and avocado crops have a lower sugar content than his navel orange crop and are more likely to freeze.

Agriculture officials said Saturday it was too early to estimate how extensive damage would be, but some worried it could be more than when a 1998 cold snap destroyed millions of dollars in citrus crops.

``Right now, it's as bad as it was in 1998, and it could get worse,'' said Claire Smith, a spokeswoman for Sunkist Growers, a citrus marketing cooperative representing about 60percent of the state's citrus growers.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency Friday, providing aid to local governments and opening National Guard armories as warming facilities.

Los Angeles city and county officials sent emergency teams to recruit homeless to more than a dozen winter shelters.

``There were a couple of people I had to turn away,'' said David Earle, a shelter supervisor at Volunteers of America in Glendale, which houses 148 people and was expected to be full Saturday night.

``On cold nights like this, those people look for shelter. Hypothermia is a real risk to homeless people on nights like these,'' Earle said. ``They find a corner in a parking garage in an abandoned building, but that's still dangerous to them; it's too cold.''

With temperatures expected to have dropped into the 20s in Woodland Hills on Saturday night -- and in the 30s in the rest of the Los Angeles basin -- forecasters said the lows could shatter records.

``Record-breaking low temperatures are possible for Sunday in downtown Los Angeles,'' said Bill Hoffer at the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

The record low was set Jan.13, 1932, when it hit 37degrees.

``It looks like for the low temperatures (today) will be the absolute coldest for this point in time. We should see it get a few degrees warmer each day into the coming week,'' he said.

In Burbank, the temperature fell to 34degrees Friday night, nearly breaking the city's daily record low of 30degrees set in 1950.

``It means that tender young things -- plants and puppies -- you don't want to leave out. Dress warmly. It's going to be cold,'' said Stuart Seto, a weather specialist at the National Weather Service.

Though there was no low-level snow in the immediate forecast, skiers in higher elevations enjoyed plenty of fluffy manufactured snow.

``Cold weather means better snow conditions. It means the snow is lighter, softer and fluffier,'' said John McColly, a spokesman for Mountain High Ski Resort in the San Gabriel Mountains. ``It makes all the difference in the world.''

rachel.uranga(at)dailynews.com

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CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1) Jon Freeman-Wood of Jon's Nursery of Somis looks at one of the fallen trees at his nursery on Saturday afternoon.

(2) High winds overnight Friday tore away covers protecting trees and plants from the cold weather at Jon's Nursery of Somis. The recent frigid nights damaged many of Jon's fruits, shrubs and plants, seen here on Saturday. The cold is expected to continue.

(3) Leaves from a hydrangea plant curled up because of the frigid weather at Jon's Nursery in Somis on Saturday night.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News