Raining animals

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Raining animals is a relatively rare meteorological phenomenon, although occurrences have been reported from many countries throughout history. One hypothesis that has been furthered to explain this phenomenon is that strong winds travelling over water sometimes pick up debris such as fish or frogs, and carry them for up to several miles.^[1] However, this primary aspect of the phenomenon has never been witnessed or scientificaly tested.

The animals most likely to drop from the sky in a rainfall are fish and frogs, with birds coming third. Sometimes the animals survive the fall, especially fish, suggesting a small time gap between the extraction and the actual drop. Several witnesses of raining frogs describe the animals as startled, though healthy, and exhibiting relatively normal behavior shortly after the event. In some incidents, however, the animals are frozen to death or even completely encased in ice. These occurrences may be evidence for the transport of the victims to high altitudes, where the temperature is below zero, and they show how powerful meteorological forces can be. The potential violence of this phenomenon is shown by examples where the product of the rain is not intact animals, but shredded body parts. Some cases are caused just after storms having strong winds especially during tornadoes. However, there have been numerous cases in which rainfalls of animals have occurred in fair weather and in the absence of strong winds or waterspouts.

Contents 1 Occurrences 1.1 Fish 1.2 Frogs and toads 1.3 Others 2 See also 3 External references 4 Bibliography

[edit] Occurrences

The following list is a selection of examples, focusing mainly on the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The citations for this listing can be found on the section "References".

[edit] Fish

• Cambridge, Maryland, 1828
• Rahway, New Jersey, November 13, 1833
• Aberdare, Glamorganshire, Wales, 1841
• Mountain Ash, Glamorganshire, Wales, February 9, 1859
• Olneyville, Rhode Island, May 15, 1900
• Tiller’s Ferry, South Carolina, June 1901 (catfish)
• Marksville, Louisiana, October 23, 1947
• India, Ranchi, July 1997
• Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, August 8, 2000
• Wiltshire, May 2001
• Knighton, Powys, Wales, August 18, 2004
• Paravur, Kerala, India May 2006
• Peerumed, Kerala, India July 2006
• Thaliparamba, Kerala, India 20 July 2006
• Paracatu, Minas Gerais, Brazil February 14, 2007 ^[2]
• Honduras Rain of Fishes (supposedly taking place once or twice a year, every year for more than a century)

[edit] Frogs and toads

• Trowbridge, Wiltshire, June 16, 1939
• Leicester, Massachusetts, September 7, 1953
• Cirencester, Gloucestershire, 1986
• Llanddewi Brefi, Ceredigion (Cardiganshire), Wales, 1996
• Villa Angel Flores, Mexico, June 1997
• Croydon, London, March 1998
• Odžaci, Serbia, July 3, 2005

[edit] Others

• An unidentified animal fell in California ripped to tiny pieces on August 1, 1869; a similar incident was reported in Bath County, Kentucky in 1876
• Jellyfish fell from the sky in Bath, England, in 1894
• Assorted dead birds, including ducks, woodpeckers and canaries in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, November 1896

[edit] See also

• Exploding animals
• Magnolia
• The Fortean Times
• Red rain in Kerala
• Honduras Rain of Fishes

[edit] External references

• Raining cats and dogs
• Raining animals in the British Isles
• BBC report on raining fish
• BBC Wiltshire report on raining animals
• BBC Bristol
• BBC Overview
• A review on the American perspective
• Fish rain
• Fish rain
• Fish rain
• Honduras rain of Fishes
• Its Raining Frogs!

[edit] Bibliography

• The Fortean Times.^{[citation needed]}