How Does It Start Raining Animals?

The simplest theory on how frogs and fishes get into the sky and then come down again is that they are picked up by wind. Nobody has actually seen this happen, but it seems reasonable as a theory. Waterspouts and tornadoes are actually able to pick up all sorts of objects and carry them for long distances. Many of the small animals that are seen to fall from the sky are frozen to death which suggests that they are carried to greater heights than we would think mere winds to be capable of lifting them to.

Newspapers reports carry accounts of tornadoes sucking up groups of toads from a lake and dropping them on dry land as if someone had actually seen the animals lifted into the sky, but it seems more likely that the animals have been found in their new habitat after a storm, or seen to fall from the sky and the locals have put two and two together.

Here is a short video on the phenomenon of raining animals:

For more on this fascinating subject, here is a blog post at cracked.com on raining animals and other weird happenings