WINTER PARK, Fla. – Florida is known for wet, windy weather — hurricanes, lightning and tornadoes top them.
However, the state has also seen a unique type of “weather” in the past, dubbed the “rain of fish,” according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
In a decade-old report, the FWS reported that the incident occurred during a storm in Winter Park in 1893.
At that time, a barrage of 2-4 inch long sunfish fell with the rain on the town, likely coming from nearby Lake Virginia.
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These incidents have been reported around the world in various places, including New Zealand, Ireland and Scotland. Even within the US, states like Maryland and Louisiana have seen fish rains, the report shows.
According to the Library of Congress, strong updrafts and tornadic waterspouts — tornadoes that form over water — rarely lift smaller animals into the air before tossing them nearby.
In his book “Weird Florida,” Florida historian Charlie Carlson claims that starfish fell from the sky toward sunbathers at Playalinda Beach. However, the local museum told News 6 there are no records of any event that occurred.
What is recorded was a shower of fish in the Texas city of Texarkana in December 2021. At the time, the city announced that the fish fell around a few days before the new year.
To make matters worse, a “seafood rain” including starfish, shrimp and octopus was reportedly dumped in China a few years ago after strong winds battered the city of Qingdao, according to Newsweek.
In 2007, worms rained down on the Louisiana city of Jennings at the same time a waterspout formed about 5 miles away, according to KPLC.
This phenomenon is not limited to animals, though.
In 1969, the city of Punta Gorda in Florida suffered from golf balls raining from the sky during a hurricane, reported the St. Petersburg Times. Officials reportedly picked them up by the satchel-full after the balls flooded the streets and sidewalks.
But the real question is: should Florida residents worry about animals going down in the next hurricane?
News 6 Chief Meteorologist Tom Sorrells had this to say:
I have been in the weather business since 1986. I have NEVER heard of anything like this actually happening. This has been discussed in several folktales… stories since 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 wind funnel or a big dust devil) to pick up small fish – or maybe even frogs – and drop the these for miles. I 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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