Frozen, Falling Iguanas Possible Christmas Weekend During FL Cold Snap

SOUTH FLORIDA — Forget about a white Christmas. In South Florida, you’re more likely to get a green Christmas this year.

With an expected cold snap hitting the region over the holiday weekend, some meteorologists warn the temperature drop could cause iguanas, an invasive species, to become inactive, appearing frozen.

Calling it “the coldest Christmas in decades,” Matt Devitt, meteorologist for WINK, shared on his Facebook page that “falling iguanas (are) possible this Christmas in Florida.”

Brian Shields, the meteorologist for WFTV, agreed, posting on his Facebook page, “Falling iguanas possible Christmas weekend. They slow down or become immobile when it’s below 40 (degrees). They may fall from trees, but they aren’t dead.”

• Also Read: Pre-Christmas Storm To Bring Cold Blast To Tampa Bay

"Iguanas are cold-blooded and at night with no sun to provide solar warmth, they become torpid, unable to move," William Kern, a professor and reptile expert at the University of Florida, told Newsweek.

This means they lose their grip and fall out of trees or other high spaces they’re in.

A pre-Christmas storm will usher in cold weather to Florida. In the Tampa Bay area, highs will only reach the low 50s with lows expected in the mid- to upper-30s Friday and Saturday nights, according to the National Weather Service.

Looking to Southeast Florida, Miami could see a high of 64 degrees and a low of 51 on Christmas Eve with a high of 55 and low of 49 on Christmas Day, AccuWeather said.

In Southwest Florida, temperatures will be even colder. In Fort Myers, high temperatures will hit 75 degrees Friday and 54 degrees Saturday, with a low of 38 on both days. On Christmas Day, the high is expected to be 53 with a low of 40, according to AccuWeather.

“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 won’t likely 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.”