The first major cold wave of the season hit parts of the southeastern US, triggering record low temperatures and surprising nearly 18 million people, who were covered by cold weather warnings in Alabama, Florida and Georgia, the Associated Press reports, BTA reports.
Amid the passing cold front, several inches of snow covered areas around the Great Lakes, including Lake Michigan, which are located near or on the border with Canada.
The first wave of Arctic air, affecting two-thirds of the eastern part of the country, moved east and southeast from the northern part of the Great Plains - the states of Montana, Wyoming, North and South Dakota, as well as parts of Minnesota, where there were cold wind gusts and snow. For the southeastern states, this means a sudden drop in temperatures to winter-like levels after they had reached between 21 and 27 degrees Celsius in recent days.
Some daily records were broken, said meteorologist Scott Kleibauer. At the Jacksonville, Florida, airport, an early morning low of -2 degrees Celsius was recorded, beating the previous record of 1 degree, set in 1977.
The southeastern United States will continue to face colder-than-normal weather for the next few days before temperatures return to normal values by the end of the week, the AP notes.
Kleibauer also explained how the cold temperatures affect animals that are not used to them. For example, iguanas begin to "freeze" and fall from trees when temperatures drop below 4 degrees Celsius. Celsius - temperatures that were recorded yesterday in many places in northern Florida.
“Iguanas go into survival mode and their system practically shuts down. They are not used to such cold and encounter it only a few times a year, if at all“, explained the meteorologist.
Posts and footage of “frozen” iguanas appeared on social networks to illustrate the surprise of local residents at the unusual weather for the season.