Across the so-called Sunshine State, oranges and strawberries are freezing, icicles are hanging off palm fronds, and iguanas paralyzed by the cold are falling out of trees.

Temperatures have plunged as low as the 20s in recent days, forcing people used to wearing flip-flops year-round to put on earmuffs.

"I am a warm-weather boy. There's no way I'm going out there," laughed Archie Adkins of Pensacola Beach as he pointed at bundled-up beachgoers.

And Floridians better bundle up: Flurries are forecast for the Panhandle on Thursday, and temperatures in the rest of the state are running at least 20 degrees below normal.

That prolonged freeze could also doom some of the nonnative iguanas that have called Florida home since being illegally introduced from South America by pet owners.

"It's almost like they go totally to sleep," Ron Magill of Miami Metrozoo told WPLG TV, referring to the fact that once temperatures drop into the 40s, iguanas shut down with very little blood flow and only their heart beating.

On Wednesday, many iguanas were spotted in "frozen" states, clinging from trees or stuck on the ground.

"Generally speaking, if it warms up afterwards, they can recover," Magill added, but a long cold snap can also kill iguanas.

Magill warned against trying to remove iguanas since they might quickly spring back to life.

"I knew of a gentleman who was collecting them off the street and throwing them in the back of his station wagon, and all of a sudden these things are coming alive, crawling on his back and almost caused a wreck," Magill said.

Other scenes from around frozen Florida on Wednesday:

‘A white glow’ under water

Every year on Jan. 6, the Greek Orthodox Church celebrates Epiphany. As part of the celebration in Tarpon Springs, a white cross is thrown into the Spring Bayou, and teenage boys dive in to retrieve it.

Finding the heavy wooden cross gives a teen a special blessing, which according to custom, will bring prosperity all year.

It was 38 degrees when the 66 teens dove in Wednesday. The water was 50 degrees on the surface.

With some 20,000 people looking on, the boys swam in a frenzy. Seventeen seconds later, 16-year-old Dimitri Kalogiannis retrieved the cross. Then came the hard part: getting out of the cold water into the colder air.

Dripping wet, Kalogiannis was hoisted onto the shoulders of his fellow teen divers. They carried him two blocks to the Greek Orthodox Church.

Still clutching the white cross — and shivering — Kalogiannis stood at the church's altar, barefoot and wet.

He grinned.

"When I was underwater, I saw a white glow. It just glowed," he said. "It wasn't as cold as I thought it would be."

'Nerve-wracking' effort to save oranges

Julie and John Arnold's 260-acre orange grove in the central Florida town of Clermont was filled with large icicles dangling from trees. And nearby canals were nearly a foot below average because of all the water the Arnolds and their neighbors have sprayed on crops to protect them.

Video: Arctic blast They estimated about 10 percent of the Temple oranges on their land were lost, but that type of citrus is a small part of their total. Their other oranges were almost entirely intact.

The couple has been working around-the-clock for nearly two days to save their crops. Far colder weather has descended on their trees in the past, but the cold usually doesn't last so long.

"I've done a half-marathon before. This is much more nerve-wracking, much more exhausting," Julie said. "This is the ultimate endurance race."

State officials in Tallahassee were optimistic that crop damage was minimal but cautioned that it was too early to tell for sure.

"That's the $64,000 question," said Terence McElroy, spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. "The preliminary indications are that there has not been any catastrophic damage."