Storms send wildlife plummeting: From geese in Idaho to fish in India
Occurrences like these happen every few months in various parts of the world. On social media, people often interpret them as ominous signs of the apocalypse. A recent event in Idaho, United States, saw dramatic scenes when a flock of migrating wild snow geese, heading towards Canada, plummeted to the ground.
8:08 AM EDT, March 30, 2024
The local police first received reports from residents about finding 50 dead geese in a parking lot, followed by another report of 60 on the roof of a nearby warehouse. Investigations confirmed that the birds were not carrying the bird flu virus.
Just moments before the discovery of the geese, a violent storm had swept through the area. Authorities believe that lightning, accompanied by huge hailstones as big as tennis balls, was the likely cause of the mass death of these migrating geese.
Such unusual phenomena aren't new. The weather service Twojapogoda.pl highlighted similar events in the past, like in Croatia several years ago when frogs fell from the sky, and a similar event in Hungary in 2010.
On June 22, in the small town of Rakoczifalva, some 62 miles from Budapest, Hungary, locals witnessed amphibians raining from the sky. Hungarian scientists theorize that strong updrafts in dense cumulonimbus clouds, which form during powerful storms, might have lifted the animals into the sky.
A year before that, residents of the Noto Peninsula in central Japan experienced a rain of tadpoles. These freshwater larvae were found on rooftops, in gardens, and along streets.
Fish plummet from the sky
In the village of Manna in southern India, residents were stunned when small, frozen fish began falling from the sky, interpreting it as a divine sign.
A similar incident occurred in September 2017 in Tampico, Mexico, where residents witnessed a heavy rain of small fish. The Civil Defense Tamaulipas provided a full account of the event.
Rains of frogs, fish, or birds are typically caused by tornadoes and waterspouts. When a tornado moves over a body of water, it can lift lightweight creatures into the air with its powerful updrafts.
At times, these animals are carried up several miles, freezing due to the low temperatures, and then fall to the ground hours later with raindrops or hailstones. Remarkably, some of the creatures survive these incredible journeys.
Such phenomena, often appearing "like a bolt from the blue," are not the result of supernatural interventions but rather straightforward meteorological phenomena.
