Southern US Paralyzed by More Snow, Freezing Temperatures

The southern United States has found itself paralyzed by blanketing snow and freezing temperatures that stretch all the from Texas to Georgia.

Adverse weather has resulted in hazardous driving conditions and numerous school closings, among other issues.

In Georgia, Gov. Nathan Deal issued a state of emergency for over 80 counties as below-zero wind temperatures began to set in across much of the state, as reported by the New York Post.

Alabama’s Governor, Kay Ivey, also declared state of emergency as well, which means that the schools there won’t have to make up lost days.

One of the biggest problems in most states are the icy roads. Snow and rain fell on Monday evening causing the roads to freeze on Tuesday and the dropping temperatures kept them that way through Wednesday morning.

Louisiana State Trooper Glenn Younger spoke to reporters about the traffic conditions in his state, saying, “We’ve got numerous crashes on the interstates and surface roads.”

“You can’t see the black ice; it’s invisible,” Younger added, “You want to just barely touch the brakes in that situation. A lot of people get scared and they want to jam on the brakes, and that makes it worse.”

Much of the south experienced hazardous and adverse winter weather earlier this month as well, with Florida seeing maybe the most bizarre side effect of all.

Down in the Sunshine State, the below-40-degrees temperatures caused iguanas to freeze and fall out of trees.

Palm Beach journalist Frank Cerabino shared a photo on Twitter of one that fell and landed near his pool, writing, “The scene at my backyard swimming pool this 40-degree South Florida morning: A frozen iguana.”

Maxine Bentzel, a West Palm Beach reporter also shared a photo of a frozen iguana and commented, “The iguanas have a good chance of thawing out if you move them in the sun. Just be careful.”

However, Kristen Sommers of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission refutes this advice, saying that it’s best to leave them alone as “like any wild animal, it will try to defend itself” once it warms up.

Ron Magill of the Miami Zoo shared a humorous, albeit terrifying, story from 2010 about a Florida man who gathered up frozen iguanas that sounds like something more out of comedy film than it does real life.

The man placed all the many iguanas in the back of his car and once they warmed up they began crawling all over, eventually making their way onto him, and nearly caused a wreck.

While this is happening quite frequently right now, it’s certainly not a common occurrence.

“There have not been an influx of calls to FWC about people worried about iguanas falling out of trees. It’s not like something you see every year,” Sommers added.