As a nearly lifelong resident of Miami, little in this world brings me more joy than the annual occurrence of the falling iguanas. For those unaware, there are a precious few days out of every year when the temperature in South Florida drops below the mid-40s. It’s then that the massive, neon green iguanas that rocket up our trees like Olympic wall climbers get so cold that their bodies shut down and they fall out of trees.

When the temperatures drop, the cold-blooded creatures get so lethargic that they become stunned, their bodies too cold to continue functioning. They lose their grip on the tree trunks and branches they hide in. Countless South Floridians have either watched an iguana fall out of a tree when the temperatures drop or have seen an iguana that appears dead beside the base of a tree but is actually in a kind of cryogenic stasis.

The current cold snap will run till about January 12, and experts predict that temperatures may plunge 30 to 40°F below the historical average, with high temperatures in the 50s and low temperatures in the 30s. South Florida is about to experience a deluge of raining iguanas.

The cold-stunned state in which countless iguanas will soon find themselves isn’t immediately fatal, but it can be if they’re in it for too long. While colder-than-usual temperatures in Florida are a threat to the iguanas themselves, the frozen iguanas are also a threat to residents.

The iguanas that don’t end up splattered on the side of the highway can eventually grow up to be 5 feet long and weigh as much as 25 pounds. Imagine you’re walking beneath a tree at a local park when you’re conked on the head by a cold, scaly, 25-pound distant relative of the dinosaurs.

To any South Florida residents reading this who may be concerned by the sight of a frozen iguana helplessly lying on the ground, do not touch it. Don’t even approach it. It may be passed out on the ground at 8 AM but by the time temperatures warm up, which only takes an hour or two, it can wake up and become aggressive. Just admire their seemingly dead bodies from a distance and take heart knowing that while it may seem tragic, it’s just a delightfully strange quirk of living in a delightfully strange place.