The cold snap that led to frozen iguanas might be due to a “warming hole”

If global warming is happening, why was Florida so cold this winter that frozen iguanas that were falling out of trees? This year’s cold snap is fuel for climate change skeptics — but scientists are investigating what may be behind the cold winter that the Southeast experienced this year.

The Miami Herald reports on an interesting new scientific study that examines the U.S. “Warming Hole,” defined in the study as a “region in the eastern United States that experienced a broad decline in temperatures beginning in the late 1950’s.”

Florida is in that warming hole region, and is affected by the more wavy pattern in the jet stream that allows bitterly cold air to come down — which might be why Miami residents needed to put on a sweater more often this winter.

• Snow-covered beaches? Chilly iguanas? They are part of a mysterious ‘hole’ in global warming [Miami Herald]
• Watch out for falling temps — and falling iguanas [Curbed Miami]