Yes, Southwest Florida was cold, but was it cold enough to make iguana-sicles?

Southwest Florida farmers were relieved and nature-watchers were in luck after late Tuesday’s/early Wednesday’s cold front dissipated with the morning sun.

Visitors crowded into Lee County's Manatee Park to get a look at sea cows warming up in a heated FPL discharge canal at the Orange River after late night/early morning temperatures dropped lower than they had in several years. 

“Lee County topped out … er, bottomed out – in the upper 30s – around 38, with wind chills around 29 degrees,” said Ruskin-based National Weather Service meteorologist Rodney Wynn. At Page Field, “It was coldest just before sunrise, around 7,” Wynn said.

The region didn’t break any records. 1985’s Jan. 21/22's cold remains undefeated, when it dipped to 28 in Collier and 32 in Lee.

“(Collier) temperatures weren’t quite to the record lows, but there were definitely some of the coldest temperatures we’ve seen in a while,” said Miami-based NWS meteorologist Larry Kelly. Naples Airport’s low was 40 degrees, with wind chills down to 31. “Some of the interior areas like Immokalee got a little colder,” he said. “They got to 32 degrees with a windchill of 25."

And by mid-morning there were reports of iguanas dropping from Sanibel trees.

Because the cold-blooded reptiles can’t regulate their body temperatures, they’re at the mercy of the surrounding air. If it’s too cold, they become torpid, which means they have trouble moving and appear stunned. Temperatures too low for too long can kill them.

More:Restaurants: 4 soups, 1 steamy sandwich to get through the cold in Fort Myers, Naples — JLB

“In January of 2010, we had multiple nights (of) severe cold that resulted in iguana deaths,” said Holly Milbrandt, the island city’s deputy natural resources department director. This time didn't appear nearly as bad.

Gasparilla Island, home to Boca Grande, is also full of the invasive reptiles, but the bad news (for us): The ones they have out there are Mexican spiny-tailed iguanas, which burrow, so they spent the cold period safely underground, said Cape Coral trapper Chris Harlow.

When he arrived on Sanibel, where he has a contract with the city to remove the invasive reptiles, he found a big one, face-down and lifeless.

His conclusion? "Iguana Popsicle."

But, he said, they're not dead and now that it's warming up, "they are popping out of their coma."

The cold weather should also be good news for hunters working to rid the Everglades of invasive Burmese pythons, said South Florida Water Management District spokesman Randy Smith.

In 2010, the last significant freeze, the University of Florida had outfitted 10 snakes with radio tracking devices, “and all 10 died,” Smith said, but we don’t know yet if it was cold enough this time.”  

Even so, he said, the cold should make for happy hunting for contractors charged with capturing the invasive snakes.

They're ectothermic, he explains, meaning "When it's cold, they need to take action ... they're more likely to crawl up and bask on levies to warm up in the sun, so we’ll know in a couple of days if that was the case."

A steady wind kept frost from forming on inland crops, said agriculture agent Gene McAvoy, Hendry County extension director. That wind, while saving produce, will likely scar it.

"We expect to see increasing culls because you'll see a lot of fruit scarring on sensitive things like tomatoes and peppers and loss of blossoms, so it'll affect us a little bit."

Overall, McAvoy said, "We're very fortunate. I think everyone's very happy with the way things turned out."