TAMPA, Fla. — Florida will see some of the coldest temperatures of the season this weekend, bringing a phenomenon that few states have the pleasure of experiencing.
That's right, frozen iguanas.
Arctic air is expected to move down into Florida before sunrise on Saturday. Expect strong winds and temperatures in the upper 40s all day. It will be even colder on Sunday with temps forecast to be in the 20s and 30s.
In previous years, this has typically been the range of temperatures that hamper the movement of the normally fleet-of-foot critters.
The reptiles, which aren't native to Florida, don't self-regulate their body temperature, and prolonged cold weather can kill the animals.
"They're kind of stuck in place like the tin man. They can't move," Emily Maple of the Palm Beach Zoo told WPTV in 2020. "They'll slow their breathing down very slow and [in] some cases they'll fall out of trees."
Since the iguanas are immobile during cold weather, many people think they are dead. However, many will become revived once temperatures increase, and they can warm in the sun.
Below are pictures of frozen iguanas after a South Florida cold snap in January 2020:
