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Rain of animals

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A rain of fish was recorded in Singapore in 1861, when during three days of torrential rain numerous fish were found in puddles
Raining snakes, 1680.

A rain of animals is a rare meteorological phenomenon in which flightless animals fall from the sky. Such occurrences have been reported in many countries throughout history.[1] One hypothesis is that tornadic waterspouts sometimes pick up creatures such as fish or frogs, and carry them for up to several miles.[1][2] However, this aspect of the phenomenon has never been witnessed by scientists.[3]

History

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Rain of flightless animals and things has been reported throughout history.[1] In the first century AD, Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder documented storms of frogs and fish.[4] In 1794, French soldiers saw toads fall from the sky during heavy rain at Lalain, near the French city of Lille.[5] Rural inhabitants in Yoro, Honduras claim "fish rain" happens there every summer, a phenomenon they call Lluvia de Peces, although the name may be indoctrination from a Spanish missionary as the fish have only been found near tributaries after storms.[6]

Explanations

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Tornadoes and waterspouts may lift up animals into the air and deposit them miles away

French physicist André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836) was among the first scientists to take accounts of raining animals. Addressing the Society of Natural Science, Ampère suggested that at times frogs and toads roam the countryside in large numbers, and that violent winds could pick them up and carry them great distances.[3]

After a reported rain of fish in Singapore in 1861, French naturalist Francis de Laporte de Castelnau speculated that a migration of walking catfish had taken place, dragging themselves over land from one puddle to another, following the rain.[7]

The likeliest explanation for many of the supposed cases is that there is no falling happening at all and the animals are driven along by winds or a deluge of some sort.[8] This explanation also accounts for the prevalence of reports that only a single species or type of animal is ever reported raining from the sky. On October 24, 1987(several occurrences within two weeks), three towns of Gloucestershire, England named, Stroud, Cirencester, and Cheltenham reported, by various people, about a heavy rain fall that also brought down dozens of tiny pink frogs. Some suggested strong winds, waterspouts, or tornados carried the frogs' eggs flying north across Africa, until falling on England.[9]

A current scientific hypothesis involves tornadic waterspouts: a tornado that forms over the water.[1][10][11][12] Under this hypothesis, a tornadic waterspout transports animals to relatively high altitudes, carrying them over large distances. This hypothesis appears supported by the type of animals in these rains: small and light, usually aquatic,[13] and by the suggestion that the rain of animals is often preceded by a storm. However, the theory does not account for how all the animals involved in each individual incident would be from only one species, and not a group of similarly sized animals from a single area.[14] Further, the theory also does not account for a genuine tornadic waterspout not actually sucking objects up and carrying them rather than flinging objects out to the sides.[15]

Doppler Image from Texas showing the collision of a thunderstorm with a group of bats in flight. The color red indicates the animals flying into the storm.

In the case of birds, storms may overcome a flock in flight, especially in times of migration. The Doppler image to the right shows an example wherein a group of bats is overtaken by a thunderstorm.[16] In the image, the bats are in the red zone, which corresponds to winds moving away from the radar station, and enter into a mesocyclone associated with a tornado (in green). These events may occur easily with birds, which can get killed in flight, or stunned and then fall (unlike flightless creatures, which first have to be lifted into the air by an outside force). Sometimes this happens in large groups, for instance, the blackbirds falling from the sky in Beebe, Arkansas, United States on December 31, 2010.[17] It is common for birds to become disoriented (for example, because of bad weather or fireworks) and collide with objects such as trees or buildings, killing them or stunning them into falling to their death. The number of blackbirds killed in Beebe is not spectacular considering the size of their congregations, which can be in the millions.[18] The event in Beebe, however, captured the imagination and led to more reports in the media of birds falling from the sky across the globe, such as in Sweden and Italy,[19] though many scientists claim such mass deaths are common occurrences but usually go unnoticed.[20] In contrast, it is harder to find a plausible explanation for rains of terrestrial animals.

Some cases are thought to be caused by birds dropping fish. With regard to a documented rain of fish that occurred on December 29, 2021 in Texarkana, Texas. Several residents of a landlocked city, in east Texas have reported a rare sight seeing fish all over the ground after they apparently fell from the sky during a rainstorm. Independent researchers, Sharon A. Hill and Paul Cropper, proposed that the fish had been dropped or possibly regurgitated by passing birds.[21] The theory found some favor with airport workers who had cleaned up the fish; they noted that there were birds in the area around the same time, and the fish "were kind of chewed up". In June 2022 around the San Francisco coast, a boom of anchovies is likely to be the cause of fair weather falling of fish from birds' mouths, such as pelicans.[22]

Occurrences

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The following list is a selection of examples.

Fish

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1555 engraving of rain of fish

Spiders

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Frogs and toads

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Others

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Can it rain frogs, fish or other objects". Library of Congress. 26 August 2010.
  2. ^ How can it rain fish? BBC News 20 August 2004.
  3. ^ a b When It Rains Animals: The Science of True Weather Weirdness Archived 1 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Alasdair Wilkins. March 21, 2012.
  4. ^ "How can it rain fish?". 20 August 2004 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
  5. ^ Rivas, Orsy Campos (7 November 2004). "Lo que la lluvia regala a Yoro (discusses a rain of fishes that occurs annually in Honduras)". Hablemos.
  6. ^ Comptes Rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences. Vol. 52. 1861. pp. 880–881.
  7. ^ Nobel, Justin (18 March 2014). "When Animals Fall from the Sky". Modern Farmer. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  8. ^ a b Phadre Watson, Sarah (28 October 2018). "Remember when pink frogs rained down on Stroud and Cirencester?". stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
  9. ^ Strange Rain: Why Fish, Frogs and Golf Balls Fall From the Skies. Sarah Zielinski, Smithsonian Magazine. 8 September 2015.
  10. ^ What is animal rain phenomenon and how is it explained?. World Weather Online. 19 August 2014.
  11. ^ When It Rains Animals: The Science of True Weather Weirdness Archived 18 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Alasdair Wilkins, iO9. 21 March 2012.
  12. ^ Angwin, Richard (15 July 2003). "Wiltshire weather". BBC.
  13. ^ When Animals Rain From The Sky. Scribol.
  14. ^ Dunning, Brian (8 September 2009). "It's Raining Frogs and Fish". Skeptoid.
  15. ^ "Bat-eating Supercell". National Weather Service. 19 March 2006.
  16. ^ "More than 1,000 blackbirds fall out of Arkansas sky". BBC News. 2 January 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
  17. ^ "Why Are Birds Falling From the Sky?". National Geographic. 6 January 2011. Archived from the original on 18 July 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
  18. ^ "Now It's Dead Doves Falling From Sky in Italy". "AOL". 7 January 2011. Archived from the original on 9 January 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  19. ^ "Fact Check: Mass bird, fish deaths occur regularly". "Associated Press". 7 January 2011. Archived from the original on 10 January 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  20. ^ "Researchers figured out why fish fell from the sky in Texarkana, and it's pretty gross". Dallas News. 22 June 2022. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  21. ^ Moore, Sam (28 June 2022). "Fish are reportedly raining from the sky across San Francisco". SFGATE. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
  22. ^ McAtee, Waldo L. (May 1917). "Showers of Organic Matter" (PDF). Monthly Weather Review. 45 (5): 223. Bibcode:1917MWRv...45..217M. doi:10.1175/1520-0493(1917)45<217:soom>2.0.co;2. Retrieved 26 January 2009.
  23. ^ "Rained Fish", AP report in the Lowell (Mass.) Sun, May 16, 1900, p4
  24. ^ "The Weather Network - Weather forecasts, maps, news and videos". The Weather Network. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  25. ^ "Greg Forbes. Spooky Weather. The Weather Channel. Posted: October 27, 2005". Archived from the original on 10 December 2009.
  26. ^ "BBC - Shropshire - Weird Shropshire - Fish shower". www.bbc.co.uk.
  27. ^ "Fish rain takes Kerala villagers by surprise". The Financial Express. 14 February 2008.
  28. ^ "Fish Rain", reported in the India : [1], October 24, 2009
  29. ^ "It's raining fish in Northern Territory", reported in news.com.au : [2], February 28, 2010
  30. ^ Lani Nami Buan (15 January 2012). "It's raining fish! It's normal". GMA News. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  31. ^ Jereco O. Paloma (15 January 2012). "Agusan's 'rain of fish' natural although unusual". SunStar Davao. Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  32. ^ "Jamnagar News: Fish Rain Near Jamnagar". Jamnagar News. 30 October 2009. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  33. ^ "Fish rain down on Sri Lanka village, reported in https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia[permanent dead link‍] : [3], 6 May 2014
  34. ^ "Archived copy". YouTube. Archived from the original on 14 August 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  35. ^ Villagers wake up to find fish in fields!, The Times of India, August 17, 2015
  36. ^ "Fish rain in diredawa Ethiopia.", http://mereja.com/news/1080799 Archived 19 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine
  37. ^ "Fish rain in Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh"., One India Telugu, May 20, 2016
  38. ^ "Catfish Falls From Sky and Strikes Woman in Face Near Art Museum, Philadelphia"., Philadelphia Inquirer, September 9, 2016
  39. ^ "No lo has visto todo aún: llovieron peces en Tampico". Excélsior. 27 September 2017.
  40. ^ "How 100 fish rained down on an Oroville school remains a mystery". KTVU FOX 2. 23 June 2017.
  41. ^ "'Fish rain' falls on Sri Lankan village | The Star". www.thestar.com.my.
  42. ^ "Fish fall from the sky during rainstorm in eastern Texas; KWTX". www.kwtx.com. 30 December 2021.
  43. ^ a b Spiders Rain From Skies In Australian Town Of Goulburn, Huffington Post UK
  44. ^ "Designer registra 'chuva de aranhas' em cidade do interior do Paraná". Globo.com. 8 February 2013. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
  45. ^ Demetriou, Danielle (10 June 2009). "Sky 'rains tadpoles' over Japan". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 7 August 2009.
  46. ^ "Szemtanúk szerint békaeső hullott a településre". szoljon.hu. 21 June 2010. Retrieved 21 June 2010.
  47. ^ "Cómo fue que viví una lluvia de ranas y sapos" [How it was that I experienced a rain of frogs and toads] (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 4 April 2017.
  48. ^ Fort, Charles (1919). "Ch. 4". The Book of the Damned. sacred-texts.com. p. 48.
  49. ^ "Worms Fall from the Sky in Jennings". WAFB Channel 9. 7 July 2007. Archived from the original on 14 July 2007. Retrieved 12 December 2008.
  50. ^ "青岛下"海鲜"？真实情况并不好笑". nwang.net/article/1528966769371001/. 14 May 2018.

Further reading

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  • Bajkov, A.D. Do fish fall from the sky? Science, v. 109, April 22, 1949: 402.
  • Bourchier, Daniel. "It's raining fish...no really." Sunday Territorian, Australia, February 28, 2010.
  • Branley, Franklyn M. It's raining cats and dogs: all kinds of weather and why we have it. Illustrated by True Kelley. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1987. 112 p. (Juvenile)
  • Cerveny, Randall S. Freaks of the storm: from flying cows to stealing thunder, the world's strangest true weather stories. New York, Thunder's Mouth Press, c2006. 371 p.
  • Chandler, Barb. Froggy weather. Weather-wise, v. 57, Jan./Feb. 2004: 42.
  • Christian, Spencer and Antonia Felix. Can it really rain frogs?: the world's strangest weather events. New York, Wiley, 1997. 121 p. (Juvenile).
  • Corliss, William. Tornados, dark days, anomalous precipitation, and related weather phenomena: a catalog of geophysical anomalies. Glen Arm, MD: Sourcebook Project, c1983. 196 p.
  • Dennis, Jerry. It's raining frogs and fishes: four seasons of natural phenomena and oddities of the sky. New York, HarperCollins, c1992. 323 p.
  • Englebert, Phillis. The complete weather resource. Detroit, UXL, c1997–2000. 4 v.
  • "Frogs fall from the sky." Herald Sun, Melbourne, Australia, June 8, 2005. p. 2.
  • Gray, J. E. The shower of fishes. Zoologist; a monthly journal of natural history, v. 17, 1859: 6540–6541
  • Gudger, E. W. Do fish fall from the sky with rain? Scientific Monthly, v. 29, December 1929: 523–527.
  • McAtee, Waldo L. Showers of organic matter. Monthly Weather Review, v. 45, May 1917: 217–224.
  • Posey, Carl A. The living earth book of wind and weather. Pleasantville, NY, Reader's Digest Association, c1994. 224 p.
  • Waterspouts. In McGraw-Hill concise encyclopedia of science and technology. 5th edition. New York, McGraw-Hill, c2005. pp. 2369–2370.
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