Is it a natural mystery or a just a hoax? Residents of Liaoning, China were left scratching their heads after a video went viral showing what appeared to be loads of worms falling from the sky.
The peculiar incident has escalated quickly, with many people offering theories as to how this could have happened. As authorities remain silent on the issue, one thing is certain: this occurrence was definitely an out-of-the-ordinary experience.
Locals reported that they had seen something strange in the skies above Liaoning Province in China – a shower of slimy creatures falling from above and covering parked cars in its path.
Passersby continued about their day as if nothing was happening, with one woman even standing beneath an umbrella during the unexpected downpour.
With Chinese officials yet to make any comment on the situation, experts are busy putting forward their own explanations as to how such an event could have occurred.
One popular theory suggests that what people thought were worms may actually have been poplar flowers, which bloom into long catkins that resemble furry caterpillars and can easily be mistaken for them from a distance.
Another hypothesis claims that strong winds picked up the ‘worms’ before depositing them in Liaoning – something which has been known to happen elsewhere around the globe before now.
While it might seem like something out of science fiction or fantasy, animal rain is real – though it’s so rare that it has never been studied enough for us to come up with conclusive answers about why it occurs or how it works.
According to meteorologists however, tornadic waterspouts could play a role by sucking small animals up into their vortexes before dispersing them elsewhere; strong wind currents caused by tornadoes and other weather conditions could also act in much the same way.
Reports of animal rain go back centuries too.
One person suggested on Twitter that “it is rare but not impossible for earthworms to fall from the sky during rain – a phenomenon called ‘earthworm rain’. This usually occurs when specific weather conditions occur such as strong winds that lift earthworms and carry them into clouds where they can then be carried long distances before falling back down again with rainfall”.
While no one knows for sure yet just what caused this phenomena, one thing’s certain: we haven’t seen anything quite like this before.
