The weather forecast for the next few days is out in the Sunshine State, and it's an unusual but not completely foreign prediction. "*FALLING IGUANAS* possible this weekend in Southwest Florida," a WINK meteorologist warned Thursday on social media, citing a phenomenon that often happens when Florida's temps dip into the unseasonably cool range. USA Today notes that the mercury is expected to fall into the low 40s, which, while not as frigid as the most recent Kansas City Chiefs game, is enough to send iguanas into a temporary paralysis that sends them plummeting off of rooftops and out of trees to the ground below.
The cold-blooded lizards start to move more slowly once the thermometer falls below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and when the temperature drops into the 40s and 30s, the iguanas will actually "freeze," per the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. It's important to note that typically, the iguanas aren't dead, just immobile—almost as if they're in a coma.
A previous Fox Weather report on the falling iguanas cited by the Messenger refers to this state as being "cold-stunned."
The Fox report notes the reptiles can become incapacitated after about eight hours in 40-degree weather, with smaller iguanas succumbing more quickly than larger ones. Experts say to just leave them be if you stumble across one lying on the street or sidewalk, as they could feel cornered and go on the attack. "Don't assume that they're dead," an FWCC supervisor advised in 2018, when another cold spell had hit the state. Iguanas aren't Florida's only resident creatures to be adversely affected by cold snaps. ESPN SWFL notes that in extra-cold weather, manatees will head to smaller, warmer bodies of water along the Florida coastline and cram in together; USA Today has a picture of one such huddling event. (More iguana stories.)
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