Hallelujah, it’s raining…fish?

Fact or fiction: the science behind fish rain

Ezra BakerEconomics & French

College of Arts & Sciences

StorytimeYoro, Honduras – 1850’s

Father José Manuel Subirana

Prayed for the poor

Fish fell from the sky!

Recurs every May-June

Possible explanationsHeavy rains

Flash floods

Waterspouts

Where we’re headedReview of tornadoes

Introduction to waterspouts

Waterspouts and fish rain

Tornado reviewColumn of rapidly rotating air (65 – 280 mph)

Cyclonic rotation

Most ~100 yards

Ground speed about 30 mph

Most only a few minutes

Tornado formationNot well understood

Any severe weather conditions

1: Horizontal rotating tube

2: Tilted vertically by updraft

3: Stretches downward

What is a waterspout?Similar to tornado above water

5 – 100 m

Wind speeds up to 90 mph

Most tropical and sub-tropical

Do NOT suck up water

Two typesTornadic

Same processes as land-based tornadoesCan originate on land

Non-tornadic (Fair-weather)Warm water heats air from belowAir becomes unstableRises and condensesVisible water is water vapor

Researching waterspoutsInternational Centre for Waterspout Research

(ICWR)Founded 2008Wade Szilagyi

Szilagyi Scale[-10, 10]Positive number indicates waterspouts are likelyLikelihood increases approaching +10

Global Waterspout Mapping ProjectBegun 2011To understand global distribution of waterspouts

But what about the fish?Small creatures can be sucked into the vortex

and deposited on land

Do you buy it?If the water doesn’t get sucked up, why would the

fish?

Yoro 200 km from Atlantic Ocean

1970’s – National Geographic team found fish are blind

Other reports of fish rainSri Lanka – 2012, 2014

Lajamanu, Australia – 2010

Kerala, India – 2008

Agusan del Sur, Philippines – 2012

Knighton, Wales – 2004

TakeawaysWaterspouts are like tornadoes over water

Weaker (5 – 100 m, 90 mph) but still dangerous

Can be tornadic or non-tornadic

Visible water is from vapor, not the body of water below

Check out Yoro, because YOLO

Works Cited http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lluvia-de-peces-the-rain-of-

fish

http://www.earthsci.org/processes/weather/wea1/wea1.html

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/121223/news/raining-fishnfrogs-instead-of-proverbial-catsndogs-25769.html

http://www.livescience.com/37820-lluvia-de-peces-fish-rain.html

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27298939

http://archive.financialexpress.com/news/fish-rain-takes-kerala-villagers-by-surprise/272219

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/244651/news/nation/it-s-raining-fish-it-s-normal

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3582802.stm