Rain of Fish Falls on Texarkana, Texas

A photo of one of the fish that fell on Texarkana. *(The City of Texarkana, Texas / Facebook)*

According to officials in the city of Texarkana, Texas, a thunderstorm that blew through the area last December 29th brought more than just precipitation. In a post to Facebook published the day of the event, the city confirmed that reports of fish raining down on the city were no joke.

"2021 is pulling out all the tricks…including raining fish in Texarkana today," read the post. "And no, this isn’t a joke."

James Audirsch, who works at the Orr Maxx used car dealership on Summerhill road, told local news outlet ArkLaTex that, at around 4:30 p.m. that day, he and co-worker Brad Pratt heard loud noises and looked outside to find fish falling from the sky.

"There was a loud crack of thunder and when we opened up the bay door, I looked outside and it was raining real hard and a fish hit the ground, and I said ‘It's raining fish!’" Audirsch explained. “Fish were dropping, here and everywhere.”

Some of the fish were reportedly four to five inches long and appeared to be young white bass.

White bass are common to the region and make for popular sport fishing with local anglers.

“I didn’t know what to say. I thought it was pretty cool. I started to get me a bucket and pick them up for fishing bait,” local resident Tim Brigham told KSLA 12 News.

The city blamed water spouts for the incident.

"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,” read the city’s social media statement.

Michael Berry, Senior Meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Shreveport, Louisiana, agreed that a water spout was the likeliest explanation.

“The only way I’m aware of that can produce these small fish falling from the sky with a thunderstorm would be some small waterspout having sucked the water and anything in the water up into the cloud base,” he said.

Although, Berry added, this was the first time to his knowledge that such a phenomenon has occurred in the region.

Similar events have been reported in other places, such as a rain of fish said to have fallen at Stanford Elementary in Oroville, California, in May of 2017.

Small animals, especially fish and frogs, are the most commonly reported weird rain to fall on inhabited areas, but other objects such as stones are also reported, and in March of 2020, a black rain reportedly fell in Hasuda, Japan.

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