Iguanas in Florida froze and fell from trees due to the cold weather that dropped below 40 degrees Fahrenheit (5 Celsius) in some parts of South Florida, according to local media.
A rare winter storm hit the US Southeast earlier in the week bringing Florida’s capital its first snow in three decades and snarling travel, while New England braced for a “bomb cyclone” forecast to bring heavy accumulations on Thursday.
Videos uploaded to social media showed residents' encounters with frozen iguanas laying on the ground.
The cold snap sweeping across parts of the United States is having a severe effect on the animal population. Source: Reuters
Stephanie Thompson, from Lake Worth, Florida, told Reuters she found frozen iguanas outside her home.
"Good news to report both had warmed up enough to move along by lunchtime," she said.
In New York temperatures were so low in the northern parts that Niagara Falls - the giant waterfalls straddling the US-Canadian border - froze.
Snowfall eased by nightfall but temperatures were set to plunge to 8 Fahrenheit (minus 13 Celsius) and remain sub-freezing all weekend.
Pack of endagered wolves take shelter in den
A group of critically endangered wolves was caught on 'wolf cam' hiding from the elements in their den at the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem, New York on Thursday (January 4) as the so-called "bomb cyclone" bore down.
The first group of wolves captured in black and white inside the den were identified by the center as a group of six endangered red wolves.
A separate camera set up outside at the sanctuary captured another critically endangered species, a Mexican gray wolf pack, walking around in the fresh snowfall.
"The Mexican gray wolf and the red wolf are among the rarest mammals in North America; both species were at one time extinct in the wild," the center said in a statement on their website.
A pack of endagered wolves weathers the storm in a New York sanctuary den. Source: Reuters
'Bombogenesis'
Weather forecasters dubbed the event a "bomb cyclone," their nickname for a phenomenon known as "bombogenesis," in which a weather system experiences a sharp drop in atmospheric pressure and intensifies rapidly, unleashing hurricane-force winds.
Americans along the East Coast faced potential power outages in bitterly cold sub-freezing temperatures. About 30,000 customers in Virginia and North Carolina were deprived of electricity according to CNN.
Some 3,000 customers were hit in New York and about 10,000 in Boston, although service was partly restored at the end of the day.
In coastal Boston, the storm was accompanied by giant waves that led to what Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker described as "historic flooding" that inundated the city's eastern streets as well as coastal areas of the state.
New York mobilized additional resources by declaring a state of emergency, while a Singapore Airlines A380 was forced to land at the Stewart Airport upstate after being diverted from the city's main JFK International.
The National Guard deployed about 500 personnel along the coast, according to a statement.
"Currently, the main focus is assisting with transportation support and vehicles," the statement said.
The southeast was the first to feel the storm's icy lash, when Florida on Wednesday saw its first snow in nearly three decades.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper lamented the deaths of three people in his state, including two killed when their pickup truck slid off a bridge and landed on its roof in a creek bed.
Roads were closed in northern Florida and southeastern Georgia, where Governor Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency in coastal areas.
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