Tom Macklin, the mayor of this faded city deep in Florida's citrus belt, heard the idea on talk radio and latched on with relish.

The record-setting cold damaged the state's 700,000-acre citrus belt, as well as winter vegetable crops.

Forecasts for warmer temperatures in the citrus belt spurred further buying of juice futures.

He is a native Floridian who grew up in the heart of Florida's citrus belt.

The Tigers are celebrating their 69th season in Lakeland, a small town 33 miles east of Tampa, past the state fairgrounds and into what's left of the citrus belt.

The bad freezes in 1983 and 1985 pushed the citrus belt farther and farther south, said Mr. Savaiko of Paine Webber.

Some Damage Expected "This air mass is so strong that even the fringe of it has potential to cause some damage across the citrus belt," Mr. Davis said.

A 1989 freeze pushed the citrus belt south, said Jim Lushine, a National Weather Service meteorologist, but warmer weather may have the opposite effect.

Because of the freezes, the citrus belt has been moving south, concentrating in central Florida instead of slightly to the north.

A second, more serious canker strain was later found in a small number of mature producing trees in the Tampa area, but the 600,000-acre citrus belt has been otherwise unaffected.