( CNN ) -- Cold weather frosting much of the country spared Florida 's citrus crop Tuesday , but more near-record lows expected overnight will pose another challenge . `` We came through last night in pretty good shape , '' said Andrew Meadows , a spokesman for Florida Citrus Mutual . `` We had some reports of mid-20s scattered across the citrus belt but it was n't for any duration . '' Fort Lauderdale recorded its lowest temperature on record for December 7 , dropping to 40 degrees Tuesday morning . The old record was 42 , set in 1841 . The National Weather Service issued hard freeze warnings for Tuesday night into Wednesday morning for much of the Florida panhandle , with freeze warnings and watches extending as far south as Hollywood . Parts of Alabama and Georgia were also under a freeze warning . Meanwhile , parts of North Carolina , Virginia , West Virginia , Maryland , Pennsylvania and Vermont were under winter weather warnings Tuesday for additional snow . Some areas have already received as much as a foot of snow . At least one death was blamed on the cold in South Carolina . In Marion County , the coroner said Tuesday that a 47-year-old man found dead Monday outside a home in Mullins apparently died of hypothermia . The unusually early cold weather is the result of a blocking pattern over the Atlantic Ocean that is helping to allow freezing air from Canada to flow into the eastern half of the country , said CNN meteorologist Rob Marciano . `` Basically , the cold weather pattern is going to remain for the next two weeks , '' he said . `` There will be a couple of days where it will warm up before we get the next surge of cold . '' The sprawling system has dumped snow from Minnesota east to Virginia , with more expected Tuesday and Wednesday . While nothing as drastic as snow is forecast for Florida , the prospect of another near-freezing night had Salvation Army officials in Fort Lauderdale preparing for twice as many homeless people to make use of their shelter . `` The first cold night , not so many come in , '' said Sally Gress , director of development for the Salvation Army office in Fort Lauderdale . `` We 're expecting about 100 as people realize how cold it is . It 's cold and it 's getting colder . '' In Coral Springs on Florida 's west coast , Michigan resident Rob Brown was reveling in what he considered to be warm weather as he worked in a long-sleeved T-shirt at the family Christmas tree stand . For the past 15 years , Brown 's family has cut trees from their farm in Greenville , Michigan , to sell in south Florida . `` You work , you do n't break a sweat , '' he said of the weather . But his customers are n't so fond of the conditions , he said . `` The colder weather definitely does put them more in the Christmas spirit , but I think it 's too cold for them . They wake up in the morning and it 's 35 degrees and they think it 's the end of the world , '' he said . Although the chilly temperatures left the Deep South shivering , the upper Plains states were bearing the brunt of the cold snap . Overnight lows in parts of Montana and North Dakota dipped into negative territory Tuesday morning , and they bottomed out in the teens across broad areas of the Upper Midwest . `` We had above-normal temperatures for much of the fall and I think this is the first really good winter outbreak of the year and people just are n't really used to it , '' according to Brian Korty of the National Weather Service , who said there may be a silver lining to the early cold . `` Usually when you get a very cold December across the eastern part of the country , usually the pattern flips and very often you will see a warm January and February . '' CNN Radio 's Greg Black and CNN 's Ed Payne contributed to this report .
NEW : half death is attributed to the cold . The Greenville citrus crop escapes damage in the winter outbreak of the year 's first cold snap . Another round of freezing temperatures is forecast for morning .