Palm Beach Post : Hard freeze forecast for area likely to devastate crops; cold weather shelters to open

Lows will be in the upper 20s as far south as Boca Raton.

And a brisk breeze across the region could make for a wind chill as low as 13 in West Palm Beach.

"This not a radiation freeze where the winds go calm and the warmth radiates into space," Rothfuss said from the weather service's Miami office. "This is an 'advection' freeze; very cold air coming in."

And, he said, "it's really disconcerting because we're talking about mid-December. We still have January and February."

The forecast overnight low of 25 for Palm Beach International Airport would blow away the record for the date of 33, set in 1962. Belle Glade's 28 would break the record of 30, set the same year.