WINTER PARK, Fla. – Florida is well-known for its wet, windy weather — hurricanes, lightning strikes and tornadoes being chief among them.
However, the state has also seen a weirder type of “weather” in the past, dubbed a “rain of fishes,” according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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In a decades-old report, the FWS reported that the incident happened during a thunderstorm in Winter Park way back in 1893.
At the time, a barrage of 2-4 inch long sunfish fell with the rain over the town, likely coming from the nearby Lake Virginia.
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These incidents have been reported across the world in a variety of places, including New Zealand, Ireland and Scotland. Even within the U.S., states like Maryland and Louisiana have seen rains of fish, the report shows.
According to the Library of Congress, strong updrafts and tornadic waterspouts — tornadoes that form over water — can rarely lift smaller animals into the air before dumping them close by.
In his book “Weird Florida,” Florida historian Charlie Carlson claims that starfish fell from the sky onto sunbathers at Playalinda Beach. However, the local museum told News 6 that there were no records of any such event happening.
What was recorded was a rain of fish in the Texas city of Texarkana in December 2021. At the time, the city announced that fish had fallen around the area just days before the new year.
Worse yet, a “seafood rain” including starfish, shrimp and octopus was reportedly dumped in China a few years earlier after hurricane-force winds blew through the city of Qingdao, according to Newsweek.
Back in 2007, worms rained down on the city of Jennings in Louisiana around the same time a waterspout formed roughly 5 miles away, according to KPLC.
This phenomenon isn’t limited to animals, though.
In 1969, the Florida city of Punta Gorda suffered from golf balls that rained from the sky during a storm, the St. Petersburg Times reported. Officers allegedly picked them up by the satchel-full after the balls flooded the streets and sidewalks.
But the real question is: should Florida residents be worried about animals coming down the next time it storms?
News 6 Chief Meteorologist Tom Sorrells had this to say:
I’ve been in the weather business since 1986. I have NEVER heard of anything like this actually happening. It’s discussed in some folklore stories... stories from the 1800s for the most part, but never witnessed in my markets over the years.
With that said, it should be possible for a strong tornado or a tornadic waterspout (not just a cold air funnel or a large dust devil) to pick up small fish — or maybe even frogs — and drop them miles away. I do remember some worms falling from the sky in Louisiana years ago... but again, not in Central Florida.
News 6 Chief Meteorologist Tom Sorrells
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