It Was So Cold In Florida That Chilly Iguanas Were Actually 'Raining' From The Trees
It was cloudy with a chance of iguanas! ☁️🦎
While a "weather bomb" was dropping snow and chilling temperatures on the northeastern U.S., Florida got a stranger kind of weather: frozen iguanas.
It was so cold in Miami on Sunday that local iguanas were getting stunned and falling from trees onto pedestrians, according to the National Weather Service.
The cold-blooded reptiles are not accustomed to frigid weather, and a chilly night can leave them paralyzed in the trees where they often hang out.
When temperatures fall into the range of '40s in Fahrenheit (5-10 degrees Celsius), the reptiles become immobile until they warm up, after which they can move again, reported Fox 13 News. However, some of them end up slipping out of the trees because they can't move, and that's how it starts raining iguanas.
This past Sunday, the weather in Florida reached about 3 degrees Celsius, making it the coldest morning recorded in the state in 12 years.
Wildlife experts are issuing warnings not to touch the iguanas or help raise their temperature because once they can act quite aggressively once they lose their chill.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission issued a warning to "never take cold-stunned iguanas into your home! These are wild animals and may act defensively once they warm up and recover."
Although it may seem like the cold is harmful to the iguanas, it isn't actually fatal for them, according to Janice Dean, a senior meteorologist at Fox News.
"They don't freeze, they don't die, but they do kind of go into a state of hibernation," said Dean. "It's crazy."
Although this weather phenomenon may seem downright bizarre, it isn't the first time it has happened in Florida. The state also saw cases of frozen iguanas falling in January of 2020 and 2018.