Q: We know it’s not possible to rain cats and dogs, but sometimes you hear about frogs and other animals coming down from the sky. Is this possible?
A: It is, and it’s happened many times throughout history, says Brent McRoberts of Texas A&M University. “There are reports of it raining frogs, fishes and even snakes going back almost 2,000 years,†McRoberts says. “In the past 300 years, many of these have been carefully documented and witnessed by hundreds of people. Most of these have involved frogs and fish, but others have seen such things as corn, snakes, flowers and other materials. In 1873, it was reported that parts of Kansas City were covered with frogs that had dropped from the sky. In 1997, a Japanese fishing vessel was sunk by one of several cows falling from the sky, in an almost unbelievable tale that was later verified by the Russian Air Force.â€
Q: What causes these things to fall from the sky?
A: The most generally accepted answer is that small creatures, such as fish or frogs, are sucked up high into the air by either very strong thunderstorms or tornadoes, McRoberts explains. “Over the ocean, a waterspout — a tornado that forms over water — can produce strong enough winds to carry small fish into the air. There are instances of some of these creatures being carried long distances because there was no water nearby. Maybe one of the strangest occurred in 1877 when The New York Times reported that several small alligators had fallen from the sky onto a South Carolina farm, and in August of 2001, the Wichita, Kansas, area experienced rain mixed with cornhusks, some of them 30 inches long.â€
