Rain of animals

Last updated

A rain of fish was recorded in Singapore in 1861, when during three days of torrential rain numerous fish were found in puddles Singapourfish.jpg
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. Wea02218 - Flickr - NOAA Photo Library.jpg
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]

Contents

History

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

Tornadoes and waterspouts may lift up animals into the air and deposit them miles away Tornade003.jpg
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. Bat-supercell encounter NWS.png
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

The following list is a selection of examples.

Fish

1555 engraving of rain of fish Gravure de pluie de poissons.jpg
1555 engraving of rain of fish

Spiders

Frogs and toads

Others

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tornado</span> Rotating air column connecting the Earth’s surface and a cumulonimbus cloud

A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology to name a weather system with a low-pressure area in the center around which, from an observer looking down toward the surface of the Earth, winds blow counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern. Tornadoes come in many shapes and sizes, and they are often visible in the form of a condensation funnel originating from the base of a cumulonimbus cloud, with a cloud of rotating debris and dust beneath it. Most tornadoes have wind speeds less than 180 kilometers per hour, are about 80 meters across, and travel several kilometers before dissipating. The most extreme tornadoes can attain wind speeds of more than 480 kilometers per hour (300 mph), can be more than 3 kilometers (2 mi) in diameter, and can stay on the ground for more than 100 km (62 mi).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yoro Department</span> Department in Honduras

Yoro is one of the 18 departments into which Honduras is divided. The department contains rich agricultural lands, concentrated mainly on the valley of the Aguan River and the Sula Valley, on opposite ends. The departmental capital is Yoro. The department covers a total surface area of 7,939 km2 and, in 2005, had an estimated population of 503,886 people. It is famous for the Lluvia de Peces, a tradition by which fish fall from the sky during very heavy rains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weather lore</span> Body of informal folklore related to the prediction of the weather

Weather lore is the body of informal folklore related to the prediction of the weather and its greater meaning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waterspout</span> Vortex or tornado occurring over a body of water

A waterspout is a rotating column of air that occurs over a body of water, usually appearing as a funnel-shaped cloud in contact with the water and a cumuliform cloud. There are two types of waterspout, each formed by distinct mechanisms. The most common type is a weak vortex known as a "fair weather" or "non-tornadic" waterspout. The other less common type is simply a classic tornado occurring over water rather than land, known as a "tornadic", "supercellular", or "mesocyclonic" waterspout, and accurately a "tornado over water". A fair weather waterspout has a five-part life cycle: formation of a dark spot on the water surface; spiral pattern on the water surface; formation of a spray ring; development of a visible condensation funnel; and ultimately, decay. Most waterspouts do not suck up water.

Yoro, with a population of 27,460, is the capital city of the Yoro Department of Honduras and the municipal seat of Yoro Municipality. It is notable for a local event known as Lluvia de Peces, where it is claimed that strong storms make fish fall from the sky.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Star jelly</span> Gelatinous substance sometimes found on the ground

Star jelly is a gelatinous substance sometimes found on grass and less commonly on the branches of trees. According to folklore, it is deposited on the Earth during meteor showers. It is described as a translucent or grayish-white gelatin that tends to evaporate shortly after having "fallen". Explanations have ranged from it being the remains of frogs, toads, or worms, to the byproducts of cyanobacteria, to being the fruiting bodies of jelly fungi or masses of amoeba called slime molds. Nonbiological origins proposed for instances of "star jelly" have included byproducts from industrial production or waste management. Reports of the substance date back to the 14th century and have continued to the present.

Karachi has a tropical semi arid climate, albeit a moderate version of this climate, influenced by monsoons. Karachi has a tropical climate, despite being located slightly above the Tropic of Cancer. It is situated in the monsoon region of Pakistan. It is located on the coast bordering the Arabian Sea, and as a result, has a relatively mild climate. However, in more recent years, rainfall has become more abundant, with annual rainfall projected to reach over 500 mm by 2100. For this reason, the city may be classed as almost semi-arid (BSh), since it has a mild climate with a short but defined wet season, along with a lengthy dry season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red rain in Kerala</span> Episodes of rain containing vast amounts of red algal spores in India

The Kerala red rain phenomenon was a blood rain event that occurred in Wayanad district of southern Indian state Kerala on Monday, 15 July 1957 and the colour subsequently turned yellow and also 25 July to 23 September 2001, when heavy downpours of red-coloured rain fell sporadically in Kerala, staining clothes pink. Yellow, green and black rain was also reported. Coloured rain was also reported in Kerala in 1896 and several times since, most recently in June 2012, and from 15 November 2012 to 27 December 2012 in eastern and north-central provinces of Sri Lanka.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Landfall</span> Event of a storm moving over land after being over water

Landfall is the event of a storm moving over land after being over water. More broadly, and in relation to human travel, it refers to 'the first land that is reached or seen at the end of a journey across the sea or through the air, or the fact of arriving there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lluvia de peces</span> Rare fish rain in Honduras

The lluvia de peces, also known as aguacero de pescado, is a phenomenon that has been occurring yearly for more than a century in Yoro, Honduras, in which fish are said to fall from the sky. It occurs up to four times in a year. It has attracted the attention of scientists, as well as documentary coverage by the History Channel in the United States.

The British Overseas Territory of Bermuda has been affected by several tornadoes and waterspouts in its history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western disturbance</span> Extratropical storm over north India

A western disturbance is an extratropical storm originating in the Mediterranean region that brings sudden winter rain to the northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent, which extends as east as up to northern parts of Bangladesh and South eastern Nepal. It is a non-monsoonal precipitation pattern driven by the westerlies. The moisture in these storms usually originates over the Mediterranean Sea, the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea. Extratropical storms are a global phenomena with moisture usually carried in the upper atmosphere, unlike their tropical counterparts where the moisture is carried in the lower atmosphere. In the case of the Indian subcontinent, moisture is sometimes shed as rain when the storm system encounters the Himalayas. Western disturbances are more frequent and stronger in the winter season.

Blood rain or red rain is a phenomenon in which blood is perceived to fall from the sky in the form of rain. Cases have been recorded since Homer's Iliad, composed approximately 8th century BC, and are widespread. Before the 17th century it was generally believed that the rain was actually blood. Literature mirrors cult practice, in which the appearance of blood rain was considered a bad omen. It was used as a tool foreshadowing events, but while some of these may be literary devices, some occurrences are historic. There is now a scientific consensus that the blood rain phenomenon is caused by aerial spores of green microalgae Trentepohlia annulata.

Bird kill is a localized event resulting in the death of large numbers of birds at the same time.

The Melanau calendar is a calendar used by the Melanau people of Borneo. Its year consists of 12 months. The first month, Pengejin, signifies the celebration of the Kaul festival. Each month in the Melanau calendar consists of 30 days. It is guided by the constellations, natural phenomena and guardian spirits. Each month is named for occurrences during the month or events which are supposed to have occurred during that particular month, according to legend. The rise and fall of the Sun, the Moon and the stars determine the time for planting, harvesting, fishing, building, travel and marriage.

The climate of Uttar Pradesh is a tropical monsoon climate, consisting mainly of a humid subtropical climate with dry winter (Cwa). Parts of western Uttar Pradesh consist of a hot semi-arid climate (BSh). The uniformity of the vast Indo-Gangetic Plain covering most of the state causes it to have a predominantly single climate pattern with minor regional variations.

The Kentucky meat shower was an incident occurring for a period of several minutes between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. on March 3, 1876, where what appeared to be chunks of red meat fell from the sky in a 100-by-50-yard (90-by-45-meter) area near Olympia Springs in Bath County, Kentucky. There exist several explanations as to how this occurred and what the "meat" was. Although the exact type of meat was never identified, various reports suggested it was beef, lamb, deer, bear, horse, or possibly human.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tropical Storm Beryl (2012)</span> Atlantic tropical storm

Tropical Storm Beryl was the strongest off-season Atlantic tropical cyclone on record to make landfall in the United States. The second tropical cyclone of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, Beryl developed on May 26 from a low-pressure system offshore North Carolina. Initially subtropical, the storm slowly acquired tropical characteristics as it tracked across warmer sea surface temperatures and within an environment of decreasing vertical wind shear. Late on May 27, Beryl transitioned into a tropical cyclone less than 120 miles (190 km) from North Florida. Early the following day, the storm moved ashore near Jacksonville Beach, Florida, with peak winds of 65 mph (100 km/h). It quickly weakened to a tropical depression, dropping heavy rainfall while moving slowly across the southeastern United States. A cold front turned Beryl to the northeast, and the storm became extratropical on May 30.

The 2013 Southeastern United States floods were ongoing flooding across the southeastern U.S. Flash floods began on the morning of July 2 and continued through Independence Day and into the next day. The hardest-hit areas as of Friday afternoon are the Florida Panhandle, northwest Alabama and the area around Columbus, Mississippi. A plume of tropical moisture caused heavy rain to train over the same areas, for more than 36 hours in some cases, leading to flash flooding.

A mass mortality event (MME) is an incident that kills a vast number of individuals of a single species in a short period of time. The event may put a species at risk of extinction or upset an ecosystem. This is distinct from the mass die-off associated with short lived and synchronous emergent insect taxa which is a regular and non-catastrophic occurrence.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "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. 1 2 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. ↑ 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 : , October 24, 2009
  29. ↑ "It's raining fish in Northern Territory", reported in news.com.au : , 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%5B‍%5D  : , 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 Enquirer, 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. 1 2 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. ↑ Phadre Watson, Sarah (28 October 2018). "Remember when pink frogs rained down on Stroud and Cirencester?". stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk. Retrieved 24 September 2024.
  46. ↑ Demetriou, Danielle (10 June 2009). "Sky 'rains tadpoles' over Japan". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 7 August 2009.
  47. ↑ "Szemtanúk szerint békaeső hullott a településre". szoljon.hu. 21 June 2010. Retrieved 21 June 2010.
  48. ↑ "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.
  49. ↑ Fort, Charles (1919). "Ch. 4". The Book of the Damned. sacred-texts.com. p. 48.
  50. ↑ "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.
  51. ↑ "青岛下"海鲜"？真实情况并不好笑". nwang.net/article/1528966769371001/. 14 May 2018.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.