Record lows keep the mercury plummeting around the region
By Steve Newborn
November 11, 2025 at 10:13 AM EST
Wind chills of a brisk 23 degrees in Brooksville and 27 degrees in Lake Wales were reported this morning. Scattered power outages were also reported.
The first major cold spell of the season delivered a frigid shock to millions of people across Florida, including the Tampa Bay area.
Record lows were set Tuesday morning in most areas of west central Florida.
The mercury plummeted to 35 degrees in Brooksville, 36 in Winter Haven, 38 degrees in St. Petersburg, 39 in Tampa and 40 in Sarasota and Bradenton.
The National Weather Service in Ruskin reported wind chills blasting down to a freezing 23 degrees in Brooksville and 27 degrees in Lake Wales.
Some daily records were “absolutely shattered,” said meteorologist Scott Kleebauer, including a low of 28 at Jacksonville International Airport. That broke the previous record low of 35 degrees set in 1977.
Orlando's low broke a 93-year-old record for the day at 36 degrees. Marks were also set in Gainesville, Daytona Beach and Melbourne.
As far south as Miami, early morning temperatures dipped into the upper 40s.
(769x644, AR: 1.1940993788819876)
The state will face a few more colder-than-normal days before warming up later in the week.
The chill was from a direct shot of Arctic air affecting the eastern two-thirds of the country. In the Southeast, that meant an abrupt transition into wintry temperatures after reaching well into the 70s and 80s in recent days.
Demand for electricity surged in the Tampa Bay area, as people turned on their heaters for the first time since early spring. Duke Energy, Tampa Electric and Florida Power all reported hundreds of power outages throughout parts of the day.
Agriculture officials in Florida said they hadn’t heard of any problems due to the cold, but they were holding their breaths until Wednesday morning following one more cold night.
‘Falling iguana advisory’
Iguanas begin to “freeze” and fall from trees when temperatures dip to 40 or below, according to Kleebauer, a forecaster with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center. Those temperatures were widespread upstate in Florida on Tuesday.
“Iguanas, because of their reptilian nature, they go into this kind of survival mode, and their system basically shuts down," he said. “They're not used to those types of temperatures. They only see those only a handful of times a year, if that.”
Posts of the stunned reptiles trickled in on social media as Floridians also faced unfamiliar weather.
“A lot of times you kind of sneak into fall and then you eventually get winter,” Kleebauer said. “This was more — it was warm there for a long time and then all of a sudden it’s a shock to the system with how cold the shot was.”
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Record lows were set Tuesday morning in most areas of west central Florida.
The mercury plummeted to 35 degrees in Brooksville, 36 in Winter Haven, 38 degrees in St. Petersburg, 39 in Tampa and 40 in Sarasota and Bradenton.
The National Weather Service in Ruskin reported wind chills blasting down to a freezing 23 degrees in Brooksville and 27 degrees in Lake Wales.
Some daily records were “absolutely shattered,” said meteorologist Scott Kleebauer, including a low of 28 at Jacksonville International Airport. That broke the previous record low of 35 degrees set in 1977.
Orlando's low broke a 93-year-old record for the day at 36 degrees. Marks were also set in Gainesville, Daytona Beach and Melbourne.
As far south as Miami, early morning temperatures dipped into the upper 40s.
(769x644, AR: 1.1940993788819876)
The state will face a few more colder-than-normal days before warming up later in the week.
The chill was from a direct shot of Arctic air affecting the eastern two-thirds of the country. In the Southeast, that meant an abrupt transition into wintry temperatures after reaching well into the 70s and 80s in recent days.
Demand for electricity surged in the Tampa Bay area, as people turned on their heaters for the first time since early spring. Duke Energy, Tampa Electric and Florida Power all reported hundreds of power outages throughout parts of the day.
Agriculture officials in Florida said they hadn’t heard of any problems due to the cold, but they were holding their breaths until Wednesday morning following one more cold night.
‘Falling iguana advisory’
Iguanas begin to “freeze” and fall from trees when temperatures dip to 40 or below, according to Kleebauer, a forecaster with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center. Those temperatures were widespread upstate in Florida on Tuesday.
“Iguanas, because of their reptilian nature, they go into this kind of survival mode, and their system basically shuts down," he said. “They're not used to those types of temperatures. They only see those only a handful of times a year, if that.”
Posts of the stunned reptiles trickled in on social media as Floridians also faced unfamiliar weather.
“A lot of times you kind of sneak into fall and then you eventually get winter,” Kleebauer said. “This was more — it was warm there for a long time and then all of a sudden it’s a shock to the system with how cold the shot was.”
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.