There have been many occasions when it has rained frogs.
True fact.
Whenever it’s absolutely pouring rain outside, someone always uses the expression, “It’s raining cats and dogs out there.” While people have yet to see kittens fall from the skies, raining frogs have been spotted in cities all over the world. Actually, these unique rain storms are becoming more frequent, especially in Britain. While I have yet to see one, the day will come when my umbrella gets pelted with little froggies.
There are hundreds of sightings out there. This phenomenon always puzzles the people watching their gardens and streets fill with frogs. Scientists have a theory on how these critters get into the clouds. A waterspout, similar to a tornado, forms over a pond or lake and just like other tornados pick up cows and cars, plucks frogs off the surface of the water or even deep down. Not only frogs get picked up: lily pads, plants and especially fish have been known to fall from the sky. Some waterspouts are so powerful they can reach three feet down into the water or hold items as massive as a small sail boat in their vortex before raining these items down on some poor town. The vortex holds the frogs tightly up in the clouds as the tornado transfers into a rainstorm, usually only travelling a couple miles from the pond or lake before beginning to down pour. The storms have been known to travel hundreds to thousands of miles. This results in sightings in the middle of the grassiest plains where water is nowhere to be found.
The grossest part is when the frogs fall from the sky. Sometimes they land nicely on their bellies, but not always. Sometimes their journey ends in a splat. It is uncertain how the frogs die. Whether in the air, from the pressure of the vortex, or hitting the ground. Sometimes the frogs survive and people find frogs hopping around the streets and off of houses.
Like all theories, there are people who are skeptics. Some scientists say there is no way a vortex could hold frogs or fish for thousands of miles if even making it hundreds of miles away from the original pond or lake. How then are these creatures getting into the clouds? Some people think God is the answer, but personally I don’t think God would chuck some dead frogs and fish at us just for fun. The vortex sounds like a much more realistic answer and Mother Nature has been known to do some crazy things so I wouldn’t question the power of those vortexes.
l
enissen@mavs.coloradomesa.edu