As a cold spell continued its rigid hold on much of the eastern United States on Tuesday, farmers in central and southern Florida were bracing for freezing temperatures overnight that could damage orange, strawberry and tomato crops.

The frigid weather was also blamed for four deaths in Tennessee and has produced record snowfalls in New England.

In Nashville, the police said the body of an 81-year-old man was found in the front yard of his home on Monday morning. The man’s family told the police that he had had Alzheimer’s disease, and that they believed he had walked out of his home in the night dressed in his bathrobe.

The deep freeze, brought on by surges of high-pressure arctic air masses moving down from northwestern Canada, has been lingering since the weekend in many places that are not accustomed to subfreezing weather, meteorologists said.