# Raining frogs and snakes?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 25, 2003, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raining-frogs-and-snakes/171072 "2003-04-25T08:24:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DrLiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90ced4/32.png) [@DrLiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrLiver)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raining-frogs-and-snakes/171072/1 "2003-04-25T08:24:36Z")
I was reading a post about storms and marine life when someone mentioned raining frogs. And this reminded me that my grandmother actually says that she saw frogs and smakes raining…with the water. i’d assume there wouldn’t be all that many but is that possible at all? I can understand that water evaporates and becomes clouds and somehow are lighter than air…but frogs? Is that possible at all or is my grandmother crazy? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raining-frogs-and-snakes/171072/2 "2003-04-25T08:27:33Z")
I believe that there are documented cases where a small tornado (or similar) has siphoned the water out of a pond and deposit it somewhere else quite a distance away (complete with the fish, frogs etc. that were living in the pond) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raining-frogs-and-snakes/171072/3 "2003-04-25T08:29:21Z")
[here](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a901207a.html) is Cecil’s article on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raining-frogs-and-snakes/171072/4 "2003-04-25T13:07:22Z")
Didn’t you see that Tom Cruise movie, Magnolia? Great movie…really great scene. ---
**Author:** ![TGWATY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@TGWATY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TGWATY)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raining-frogs-and-snakes/171072/5 "2003-04-25T13:48:04Z")
It is true that it sometimes rains frogs, fishes, snakes. Many other items are reported too, for instance, small stones, seeds, flesh & blood. Students of this topic often refer to it as _fall_ of fishes, frogs, etc. because it is not always accompanied by rain. Sometimes it happens literally out of the clear blue. A tornado does not explain why the falling creatures are of a single species and all apparently the same size and age, usually young. The rarity of this occurrence makes it difficult to be studied in a scientific manner. It is still a mystery. ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raining-frogs-and-snakes/171072/6 "2003-04-25T14:08:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TGWATY \* > A tornado does not explain why the falling creatures are of a single species and all apparently the same size and age, usually young. > > The rarity of this occurrence makes it difficult to be studied in a scientific manner. It is still a mystery. I gotta ask for a cite on that assertion. Nowhere have I ever heard that it’s only young creatures of the same species that always fall. ---
**Author:** ![TGWATY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@TGWATY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TGWATY)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raining-frogs-and-snakes/171072/7 "2003-04-25T16:34:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sauron \* > \*\*I gotta ask for a cite on that assertion. Nowhere have I ever heard that it’s only young creatures of the same species that always fall. \*\* Ya got me there. This might be a false impression of my own invention. And although many falls are species specific, there are also plenty accounts of falls of mixed species too. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raining-frogs-and-snakes/171072/8 "2003-04-25T19:11:43Z")
A friend of mine once said that he was present during a fall of _coins_ - from a clear blue sky, hundreds of small foreign coins fell down into the street; he said there were lots of other witnesses and he showed me a few of the coins he picked up (not that this proves anything, of course - they were just coins). ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raining-frogs-and-snakes/171072/9 "2003-04-25T21:47:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*A friend of mine once said that he was present during a fall of _coins_ - from a clear blue sky, hundreds of small foreign coins fell down into the street; he said there were lots of other witnesses and he showed me a few of the coins he picked up (not that this proves anything, of course - they were just coins). \*\* Hmmm… WAG Alert: Tornado passes across a fountain in a square in some foreign city, sucks up the water and all the coins people have tossed in for luck. Later, said coins are deposited (probably without proper documentation or even filling out a slip 🙂 ) on your friends head.