Cloudy, With A Chance of Fish

It’s Raining Fish …

On the afternoon of May 15, 1900, the sky over Olneyville, Rhode Island, became nearly as dark as night, the temperature dropped more than 20 degrees in just a few minutes, and lightning crackled. Suddenly, the clouds opened up and dumped rain—and fish—on the town. Most of the fish were 2- to 4-inch-long pout, but residents of some neighborhoods reported being pelted with perch. Children scooped up fish to sell as souvenirs. Some adults wouldn’t go near the fish because they believed that the unusual rainfall was a sign of impending doom. Many families saved at least one fish to display, and a local restaurant showed off one in a tank of water.

… And Frogs

Amid the high winds and rain of Hurricane Isabel in September 2003, a man in Berlin, Connecticut, discovered that tiny, gooey eggs with a dark spot in the middle had landed on his porch. He thought that they were probably frogs’eggs, and he was right. He brought them inside and kept them in a bowl of water, and, within a few days, they began sprouting tails—the beginnings of pollywogs. Because September is too late in the season (and too cold) for frogs to lay their eggs in Connecticut, it is believed that the eggs were picked up in a warmer, more southern state, such as North Carolina, and carried north on the winds of the hurricane.

Fish Out of Water

When a severe storm with very strong winds, such as a thunderstorm or tornado, passes over a lake or ocean, it may scoop up fish or frogs that are near the surface. If the wind is strong enough, it can carry the creatures for many miles (sometimes hundreds) before the storm clouds burst and “rain out” the fish or frogs.

Look Out, Below!

RED “BLOOD” RAINS are caused by reddish sand from the Sahara Desert that is carried by winds traveling north or west across the Atlantic.When it rains, the red dust in the clouds falls to the ground as “bloody” red drops.

RED RAINS can also occur under clear skies.When certain young butterflies, including monarchs, emerge from their cocoons and take their first flights, they eject a red liquid that is really poop. Objects below become speckled with bloodlike markings.

For two days in 2002, a town in Sangrampur, India, experienced GREEN RAIN. A pollution scientist discovered that the specks were fecal droppings from giant Asian honeybees that had just fed on pollen from local mangoes and coconuts. 

Weird and Weirder “Weather”

1873 - FROGS rained on Kansas City, Missouri.

1877 - Live, footlong ALLIGATORS landed on a farm in South Carolina.

1881 - PERIWINKLES and HERMIT CRABS showered residents of Worcester, England.

1948 - HERRING pelted golfers in Bournemouth, England.

1981 - FROGS that were later determined to be a species that was native to North Africa fell on Naphilion, Greece.

2000 - SMALL FISH —dead, but still fresh—rained over Great Yarmouth, England.

2001 - DRIED CORNHUSKS fell over an area in east Wichita, Kansas.

Not-So-Fishy Forecasts

• When fish jump up after flies, expect rain.
• The louder the frogs, the more the rain.