Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Shelters open as Arctic blast bites South Florida
As an Arctic air mass continued to sweep south over the United States on Wednesday, wind-chill advisories were issued for Palm Beach and part of Broward counties. Threats of morning frost were predicted and scores of homeless people turned to the indoors to escape the plummeting temperatures.
“I’ve got two shirts on and I’m still cold,” said George Dittmar, 60, as he waited in line Wednesday evening at the Salvation Army, one of Broward’s cold-weather shelters, for a blanket and space to lay his head. “Anything close to 50 [degrees] is cold … I’m freezing my a-- off.”
The wind chill temperature were predicted to fall this morning into the upper 20s and lower 30s in Glades, Hendry, Collier and Palm
Beach counties, the National Weather Service said Wednesday. Inland sections of Broward County could experience wind chills in the lower 30s.
“It’s cold out there,” said Frederick Pickering, 64, shivering as he also waited in line. “It’s freezing out. Soon as that door opens, I want to get inside and sleep.”
Frost may appear in some areas and cold-stunned iguanas will drop from the trees.
The coldest temperatures will arrive this morning and Friday morning, with lows in the 40s along the coast and into the midto-upper 30s near Lake Okeechobee, according to the National Weather Service in Miami. In areas near the lake in Palm Beach County, residents could see frost on their grass and windshields.
Freezing temperatures could hit Palm Beach County immediately south of the lake Friday morning, if the expected calm winds allow the temperature to drop to 30 degrees, according to a special weather statement issued Tuesday by the National Weather Service.
The cold snap prompted Broward to open its cold weather shelters for homeless people Wednesday, tonight and Friday night. Shelters are at The Salvation Army, 1445 W. Broward Blvd., Fort Lauderdale and Broward Outreach Center, 2056 Scott St., Hollywood. A pickup spot is at Pompano Beach City Hall, 100 W. Atlantic Blvd.
Lilly Gallardo, the Salvation Army’s director of program services, said as of 7:15 p.m., 90 men, 28 women and three families, including five children, had signed up for shelter space, she said.
“Whoever shows up we bring them in,” Gallardo said. “We’ll put them in the hallway or the lobby. The idea is to get them out of the cold.”
Palm Beach County opened two cold weather shelters at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The shelters are at Westgate Community Center, 3691 Oswego Ave., West Palm Beach and West County Senior Center, 2916 State Rd. 15, Belle Glade.
Transportation to shelters during the cold spell will be provided by PalmTran at designated pick-up locations. Transportation information can be obtained by dialing 211 or 866-882-2991.
But in downtown Boca Raton, 61-year-old Luvena Robinson waited at a designated stop Wednesday night to be picked up by a bus that never came to take her to a cold-weather shelter in West Palm Beach.
If it weren’t for a nearby store owner, she said she wouldn’t have known about the upcoming cold front and shelters. She had only a thin sweater to keep her warm Wednesday night. “I was worried about the cold because I didn’t have a jacket or anything,” she said.
Robinson, who said she was homeless, said if things had gotten bad, she would have tried to make her way to the nearest hospital to camp out.
But after waiting about two hours, the shuttle never came. Instead, volunteers from Love Boca Outreach Ministries, a nonprofit that helps out the homeless, gave her a ride to the shelter.
Volunteers from the organization had made rounds earlier in the day to offer people rides to shelters and notify them about the shuttle stops. Some volunteers also gave out blankets, coats and food Wednesday.
“We’re just out here trying to gather people up and make sure they stay warm for the night,” said Erik Stark, a Love Boca volunteer who gave Robinson a blanket and coat. “Or if not, at least they can get to the shelter.”
The only ones who may hate the cold more than the rest of us are the iguanas and Burmese pythons that have multiplied in South Florida over the past 20 years. In 2010, the last prolonged cold snap, South Florida neighborhoods resounded with the thump of cold-dazed iguanas dropping from trees. Meanwhile, in the Everglades, dead pythons were seen floating in the marshes.
The weather will begin warming up this weekend, with lows rising to the 40s and upper 50s on Saturday and highs back to the mid-70s by Sunday.
Next week, highs will return to the upper 70s, said Larry Kelly, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami.