Tampa Bay To Feel Wind Chill As Temps Approach Freezing Overnight

SOUTHWEST FLORIDA — With temperatures plunge across the state this weekend, falling iguanas are possible in Southwest Florida, according to forecasters, while freezing temperatures will move in just north of Tampa Bay.

While temperatures will drop across the state overnight Friday and Saturday, Sunday morning will see the coldest weather, the National Weather Service wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Temps (will dip) into the 20s north, 30s for most of (West Central Florida and Southwest Florida,) and lower 40s for immediate coastal and far southern areas near Ft. Myers. After factoring in the wind, expect feels-like temps of 5 (to) 10 degrees colder.”

With temperatures this low, there’s a likelihood of iguanas falling out of trees, Matt Devitt, a meteorologist for WINK, which covers the Fort Myers and Naples areas, wrote on X.

• Also Read: Frigid Temps Expected Across Central FL, NWS Says

When temperatures dip below 45 degrees, the reptiles can fall out of trees, he shared. The cold weather immobilizes them, but doesn’t kill them.

“The coldest air of the season moves in Sunday morning. We have a pretty sizable iguana population from Sanibel to Cape Coral to Naples,” Devitt wrote. “Locally, lows into the 40s, wind chills in the 30s. Watch out for iguanas!”

“When it gets this cold like this, it’s funny to those who aren’t from here to see the news people talking about iguanas falling from trees, but … it can and will happen,” Joe Wasilewski, a conservation biologist with the King Cobra Conservancy and a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Iguana Specialist Group, previously told Patch.

He added, “If it’s under 40 (degrees), it’s gonna happen. If it’s in the 50s, they’re slow. If it’s in the 40s, they’re on the brink of falling. And if it’s in the 30s, they’re down.”

Green iguanas were introduced to Florida decades ago from Central and South America.

Those are areas “that very rarely dip below 45 or 40 degrees,” Dermot Bowden, president of the South Florida Herpetological Society, previously told Patch. “It just doesn’t happen, so they’re not that cold tolerant. So, the few times the temperatures get that low here, they get what we call cold stunned.”

Usually, that “magic number” is 45 degrees, he said. Any temperature below that, and the iguanas become inactive, meaning they’re more likely to fall from trees and other high places in which they might be sleeping or hiding.

But not to worry — the cold likely won’t kill them, Bowden said. “To people who are new to Florida and aren’t used to seeing large lizards lying down on the ground, they look like they might be dead, but they’re actually not.”

If anyone comes across a cold-stunned iguana, “the best thing to do is just leave them the way they are,” he said. “They will recover.”

The Nature Coast will face a good chance of freezing temperatures, while Tampa Bay will have wind chills making it feel 20 degrees colder than the actual temperature on Saturday. The overnight low will dip into the 30s.

Here's the latest Tampa Bay forecast from the National Weather Service:

Friday: A 20 percent chance of showers before noon. Patchy fog before 10am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a high near 72. Light and variable wind becoming west 5 to 8 mph in the morning.

Friday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 45. North wind 7 to 11 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.

Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 59. Wind chill values as low as 40 early. North wind around 10 mph.

Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 37. North northeast wind 8 to 10 mph.

Sunday: Partly sunny, with a high near 61. Northeast wind 11 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.

Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 49. Breezy, with a northeast wind 11 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph.

Monday: Partly sunny, with a high near 71. Breezy, with an east wind 13 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.