More Than 1,000 Sea Turtles Rescued In Historic Florida Cold Snap

Here’s How To Help Cold-Stunned Sea Turtles

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People weren't the only ones feeling the chill during a recent winter storm that froze parts of the Sunshine State.

Hundreds of cold-stunned sea turtles were rescued after temperatures plunged.

An 'exhausting and relentless' five days:

V​olunteers and workers from several agencies worked to save turtle after turtle in the waters of St. Joseph Peninsula in the Florida Panhandle.

M​ore than 1,000 turtles were transported from the area to Gulf World Marine Institute in Panama City Beach, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, or FWC. A moving van was rented to provide additional transport space.

In another case, two FWC officers rushed to pull 30 turtles from the waters around Apalachicola Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, not far from St. Joseph Peninsula.

On the state's Atlantic Coast, the University of Florida Sea Turtle Hospital at Whitney Laboratory received 100 patients from Jan. 22 through Jan. 26. The facility is located in St. Augustine.

"Our hospital shifted into full emergency mode to triage cold-stunned green sea turtles," a social media post from the lab read, calling the mission "exhausting and relentless."

Each morning, FWC personnel arrived to take the turtles to other facilities in order to make room for more.

The lab noted the uptick in rescues was expected based on the weather forecast.

C​old water is dangerous for sea turtles:

W​hen that happens, they can become lethargic and unable to swim.

"When a turtle becomes cold-stunned, the most important thing is to get the turtle out of the cold water as quickly as possible," Tonks said. "Rescue teams have to act fast to get as many turtles into controlled environments so that they can be safely warmed back up.”

The turtles rescued following Winter Storm Enzo were taken to facilities where trained sea turtle veterinarians can take care of them until they are healthy enough to be released back into the wild.

W​inter Storm Enzo was historic for Florida:

The state's all-time 24-hour snowfall record was shattered when more than 9 inches of snow was measured on Jan. 22 in the Florida Panhandle town of Milton. The previous record was 4 inches set in 1954 in the same area.

Beaches were covered in snow, as was Interstate 10, the main east-west corridor across North Florida.

Nearly half of the state's 67 school districts were shut down for at least one day because of the storm. Some were closed for the entire week.

M​ORE ON WEATHER.COM

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Weather.com staff writer Jan Childs covers breaking news and features related to weather, space, climate change, the environment and everything in between.