Freezing Conditions Chill the Coachella Valley
The Coachella Valley is still in the middle of a cold snap that is damaging plants, and raising heating bills.
Here in the desert, it's rare to say that it is freezing.
But with temperatures dipping into the high 20s a few nights, it actually is below freezing.
We asked people how they are dealing with the cold.
"I've had to wear a coat and a sweater everyday, I'm freezing," said Orange County resident, Kenneth Areas.
Joel Lam said, "I actually went out and bought gloves and a beanie that has like the ears mittens on it."
"Well I bought a coat for my dog, because sometimes during the day she's outside, but her water is frozen over," said Morongo Valley resident, Jasmine Ballesteros.
Freezing temperatures are forcing many to bundle up against this winter chill, and pushing up gas and electric costs to keep the house warm.
FEMA has winter weather advice to guard against the freeze.
-- Insulate walls and attics
-- Use caulking and weather stripping on doors and windows
-- Install storm windows or cover with plastic
-- Cover pipes with insulation or newspapers and plastic
-- Allow faucets to drip a little to help prevent pipes from freezing.
"We had to have two heaters on, space heaters on, we usually have two plants out in the kitchen but its gotten so cold we've had to bring them and put them next to the heater, so we're hoping they don't die," said Areas and Lam.
Perishing plants is a problem for many people.
"They've been dying, we've been noticing our flowers have been dying," said Ballesteros.
At Moller's Garden Center, they say many people are struggling to protect their landscaping.
"Anything that is sensitive to frost needs to be covered up, we have been selling plant blankets," said Kim Hefner, a salesperson at Moller's Garden Center.
The demand is so high that they ran out of those blankets, but there are other covers you can use.
"Anything other than plastic, you can use old sheets or anything that is lightweight to cover-up anything that can't be used. Anything that can be moved, pots or anything like that you can move close to a building or underneath a roof," said Hefner.
But some beauty forms from these freezing conditions.
Gail Cody sent us a picture of the fountain outside of her Sky Valley home.
"When my husband got up to go to work this morning at about 6:30 he just says honey you have to come and see this, it was just amazing, it's so beautiful that I had to grab my phone and snap a picture, and of course when the kids got up this morning they were so excited, we've never seen anything like it in our fountain," said Cody.
And their fountain's waterfall may remain frozen in motion for just a while longer.
"I'm thinking in the morning, maybe we'll see it again," said Cody.
But we are almost done with these abnormally low temperatures, a warm-up is on the way.





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