If you’re in southern Florida this week, watch out for falling iguanas.
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Watch out for falling iguanas, Florida residents. The National Weather Service branch covering Miami-South Florida warned on Twitter on Tuesday that the Sunshine State will turn so cold that the lizards might take tumbles out of the trees in which they hang out.
“This isn’t something we usually forecast, but don’t be surprised if you see Iguanas falling from the trees tonight as lows drop into the 30s and 40s,” the NWS Miami warned.
“Iguanas are cold-blooded,” the NWS Miami went on to say. “They slow down or become immobile when temps drop into the 40s (Fahrenheit, aka 4 Celsius).” (Solidarity, iguana friends!)
But don’t start playing Taps for our tropical-native pals just yet.
“They may fall from trees, but they are not dead,” the NWS Miami said.
The mittens that decorated a graphic sent with the tweet confused one person. “Why are there oven mitts?” tweeted Eric Zerkel, managing editor of The Weather Channel. “Are you supposed to catch the iguana with oven mitts? Please advise.”
While temperatures in the 30s and 40s Fahrenheit (-1 to 4 Celsius) aren’t unusual for much of the US in January, freezing temperatures aren’t normal for Florida. The NWS Miami had to tweet out a wind-chill advisory that’s in effect for all south Florida counties through Wednesday morning.
The NWS isn’t kidding about the iguana falls, either. The same thing happened in 2018, and The New York Times ran a photo snapped by Palm Beach Post columnist Frank Cerabino of a stunned iguana sprawled feet-up next to his swimming pool. (That particular iguana survived its tumble.)