Frogs Raining From The Sky

Yes, it is true.  Frogs can rain from the sky. 

There have been a number of instances in recorded history where frogs, fish, worms, jellyfish, and other small animals have reportedly fallen from the sky in large numbers during heavy rainfall.  For example, Scientific American reported in 1873 that Kansas City, MO, had experienced a rainstorm that left the city covered in frogs.  Frogs and toads also fell from the sky onto Minneapolis in July of 1901.  A news item stated: "When the storm was at its highest... there appeared as if descending directly from the sky a huge green mass. Then followed a peculiar patter, unlike that of rain or hail. When the storm abated the people found, three inches deep and covering an area of more than four blocks, a collection of a most striking variety of frogs... so thick in some places [that] travel was impossible."  As recently as last June, hordes of frogs fell from the sky over Rákóczifalva, Hungary.

Oftentimes, the frogs land alive, suggesting that they had not traveled through the air for any extensive period of time, but others are killed on impact or land encased in solid blocks of ice.  There have even been instances of nothing but scattered, frozen body parts raining from the sky. 

The scientific explanations of this phenomenon are untested and hazy at best.  It was believed that strong winds can, on rare occasions, sweep up these animals in large numbers and carry them over distances, where they fall with rain.  More recently, however, another hypothesis with greater support by the evidence has been put forth.  The idea is that tornadic waterspouts, caused by wind patterns that usually cause tornadoes passing over bodies of water, can lift frogs, fish, and other animals up into the air to be deposited when the tornado dissipates.  This explains why raining animals are primarily aquatic and why their bodies are occasionally torn to pieces from the violence of tornado winds.  The occurence is rare enough, however, that scientists have  had minimal opportunities to test these hypotheses. 

I don't know about you, but I'd say frogs and fish raining from the sky is pretty wild.