Fresno’s overnight temperatures were really cold. Did they break a record?

It’s been 109 years since Fresno’s coldest day on record, when on Jan. 6, 1913, the thermometer dropped to 17 degrees, so cold overnight temperatures of 34 degrees early Thursday don’t even come close to a record, according to the National Weather Service in Hanford.

But expect more freezing or near-freezing temperatures through Saturday, according to meteorologist Jim Bagnall.

Freezing weather in outlying areas remains a concern for area growers. Bagnall said that’s because a warming trend in the last few weeks caused fruit and nut trees to blossom. The fragile blossoms are sensitive to frost, prompting some growers to hire helicopters to keep air moving over frost-threatened orchards and groves.

The frost danger is nowhere near the cold snap of 1990, however, when the second-coldest day in Fresno history brought the overnight temperature down to 18 degrees, on Dec. 23, and led to an economic disaster for area citrus growers.

Bagnall said there will be some temperatures in the mid-20s through Saturday, but the low is expected to hover around 30. That’s cold enough to keep pets indoors and cover some sensitive plants.