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As soon as December of 1912 came around, temperatures began to drop to an all time low. On December 4, 1912 temperatures
were recorded in Pomona California at 27º. Temperatures were expected to keep dropping throughout the remainder of the winter
season. Even with these extreme lows, growers were still not expecting the frost to damage the crops. Of course no one was
anticipating any damage, do the fact that the majority of the orchards were located in the “frostless belt”. There
had been several reports that the citrus yield may take second place in the nation for the winter of 1912.
By Christmas Eve, temperatures had reached 23º in the Pomona Valley, the coldest night that year. Smudge pots were
used throughout the groves, and helped save the crop in the valley that night. As the temperatures continued to drop and the
number of smudge pots were increasing, growers began to question how much longer their defenses would hold up.
On January 6, 1913 a local newspaper had reported that Pomona, Ontario, Santa Barbara, Redlands, Alhambra, Corona,
and the largest orchard area, Riverside had been struck by the “Frost Invasion”. Million of smudge pots were being
used during the frosty nights, but the cold weather and wind were too much for the trees to up hold. Not only had the
oranges and lemons been frozen, but also the trees. Orchardists claimed that the roots of the trees were not deep enough to
fight off the cold. No count of total damage had been taken. Losses were increasing too drastically throughout the Southland
to keep records at that time.
On the night of the sixth of January 1913, Los Angeles had reached temperatures of 28º, the
lowest since 1878. Temperatures had dropped to 10-15º in some areas of the Southland. These were some of the coldest nights
ever measured in the state of California.
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