What is fish rain and why does it happen?

The rain of fish is a weather phenomenon strange but real. It is characterized by rain or falling fish instead of drops of water or next to it. In this event, a small tornado absorbs the fish from their habitat and transports them into a storm cloud, and then they fall as rain. Many of these fish do not survive the impact with the ground and some fall frozen, due to the fact that they pass through zones of very low temperatures.

The fish rains are the best known, but by no means the only ones, as there have been rains of frogs and other animals , such as spiders, prawns and other crustaceans. During 2007 a frog shower took place in Alicante and Scientific American has published about a snake shower in Memphis in 1877. Another frog shower occurred in Massachusetts during 1953.

Learn more about Why frogs rain from the sky with this other AgroCorrn article

These rains of animals are generated as a result of tropical storms . When there are great rains and storms, great waterspouts are generated in the sea and eddies in the water, producing a tornado so strong in the water that it lifts the animals that are there towards the storm in the sky. So when the rains occur, the fish fall. Due to the movement, these animals fall in places other than the ones they originate from, generating what we know as a rain of fish , even in inland places that do not have a sea or river nearby.

Most of these fish die as a result of the strong impact against the surface, but there are some that manage to survive it. It is also common for many of these fish to fall to the ground frozen, because when they rise they go through phases at great heights that are at sub-zero temperatures.

One of the most striking cases of this event is the rain of fish in Yoro (Honduras) . In fact, the images in this article are from this place. According to popular culture, these fish showers occur once a year in the town, which usually occurs during the peak storm season, between May and July. After the first lightning, winds and thunder, a shower of fish takes place that lasts a couple of hours. The residents of the town have already become accustomed to collect all the fish they can, once the rain is over, and take the opportunity to cook and eat them.

In other countries such as Sri Lanka , there is also a phenomenon of fish rain where its inhabitants have been bombarded with up to 50 kg of fish.

Another case that was initially classified as a meat rain occurred in the United States in 1876. It is said that a woman who was working in the garden saw pieces of meat fall from the sky. Although there has been a lot of research on the subject, in the end it was about vulture vomit, so it was not strictly a rain.

In Spain there was a rain of frogs in Alicante in 2007. This happened because when the clouds formed in cumulonimbus format, heavy rains are generated and the hot air rises and traps some animals and insects in its path, such as frogs. or spiders, which then fall in the form of rains. A similar event occurred in Hungary. During 2008, in Colombia there was a rain that looked like blood and, although at first it was believed that it was a rain of blood, it turned out to be red mud.

These curious rains of animals in various areas of the world have awakened a large number of legends and myths around the world during all these years, although the truth is that these fantasies have nothing to do with the true causes.