Fish fell from the sky in the northeast border town of Texarkana, baffling residents.
Multiple residents reported seeing the rare phenomenon occur in the city, which borders Texas and Arkansas and shared videos and images on social media. Experts say the phenomenon can occur when waterspouts pick up marine life like fish or frogs into the sky.
But there was no evidence, say meteorologists of waterspouts on Wednesday.
City officials posted on Facebook that while rare, the phenomenon is not alarming.
2021 is pulling out all the tricks… including raining fish in Texarkana today. And no, this isn’t a joke. Animal rain is a phenomenon that occurs when small water animals like frogs, crabs, and small fish are swept up in waterspouts or drafts that occur on the surface of the earth. They are then rained down at the same time as the rain.While it’s uncommon, it happens, as evidenced in several places in Texarkana today. So, show us your fishy pics! And please, for the sake of everyone, let’s tiptoe into 2022 as quietly as possible.
Brandon Thorne, a meteorologist for NWS Shreveport, said a line of thunderstorms moved through Texarkana on Wednesday afternoon, but added that no warnings were issued in connection to the storms.
Residents from at least four different locations in the city reported seeing fish falling from the sky, according to the Texarkana Gazette.
In a Facebook post, Texarkana city officials confirmed that they had received reports of fish flopping to the ground.
Bregan Brown, a Texas Parks and Wildlife biologist, said reports of a single animal falling from the sky are not uncommon, because birds of prey sometimes drop their kill.
Instances in which multiple organisms, such as a school of fish falling from the sky, are more rare and could be the first time that the event was recorded in the state.
“When you get a lot of animals falling from the sky amidst a weather event it can seem pretty scary, but it’s not really anything to be concerned about,” Brown said.
Devin Sewell, a sales manager at the Orr Maxx car dealership in Texarkana, said he though a neighboring business had thrown out fish, between 2 to 6 inches long, into the roadway when he walked outside Wednesday afternoon.
“Then I started looking on the ground and there were fish everywhere for about 100 yards,” Sewell said.
Sewell said the falling fish have been the talk of the town, and that people have been getting a kick out of the quirky phenomenon.
“What’s going to stink is I’m going to have to clean these fish out of the back of these trucks now,” Sewell said.