Friday, October 8, 2010

Maybe not raining cats and dogs, but fish...

Raining Fish video link


             For thousands of years, an incredible weather phenomenon has been documented in which fish and other small water creatures like frogs and snakes, have literally fallen from the sky.  Although it is not entirely understood how this can occur, most scientists and meteorologists think it is the result of water spouts and tornadoes passing over the ocean or other bodies of water and displacing the animals in other locations.  The winds associated with tornadoes and water spouts are so strong they can lift the water creatures high into the base of their funnels. Because the creatures are so light, they then get caught in the powerful winds in higher levels of the atmosphere until they reach a trough and can plummet back to earth.  Once the animals are caught in the strong winds, they could be journeying on the drafts hundreds of miles before reaching a point when they fall.  As described in the video, it’s not uncommon for an entire school of fish to plummet to one location, as they were abducted from the same water spout and travelling on the same wind currents.
                I have never heard of this weather occurrence before I discovered this video and I think it is absolutely mind-blowing.  It makes sense that a water spout or a tornado would suck fish up as they pass over water, but it never occurred to me that they could stay in the clouds until the clouds disperse.  I have actually seen a water spout before in the ocean, and now I think about all the creatures it could have obtained and displaced with it. The video even said that fish and frogs could survive after going through this!  What’s even stranger is that the fish get caught in wind currents and can travel long distances before returning to earth in such a way that fish and frogs could be raining in area where there is little water.  Now that I know about this, I’d like to see it for myself! It'd be pretty awesome if some fish just showed up in your yard one day and you could cook them for dinner.

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