Hallelujah, it’s raining…fish? Fact or fiction: the science behind fish rain Ezra Baker...
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Transcript of Hallelujah, it’s raining…fish? Fact or fiction: the science behind fish rain Ezra Baker...
Hallelujah, it’s raining…fish?
Fact or fiction: the science behind fish rain
Ezra BakerEconomics & French
College of Arts & Sciences
StorytimeYoro, Honduras – 1850’s
Father José Manuel Subirana
Prayed for the poor
Fish fell from the sky!
Recurs every May-June
Possible explanationsHeavy rains
Flash floods
Waterspouts
Where we’re headedReview of tornadoes
Introduction to waterspouts
Waterspouts and fish rain
Tornado reviewColumn of rapidly rotating air (65 – 280 mph)
Cyclonic rotation
Most ~100 yards
Ground speed about 30 mph
Most only a few minutes
Tornado formationNot well understood
Any severe weather conditions
1: Horizontal rotating tube
2: Tilted vertically by updraft
3: Stretches downward
What is a waterspout?Similar to tornado above water
5 – 100 m
Wind speeds up to 90 mph
Most tropical and sub-tropical
Do NOT suck up water
Two typesTornadic
Same processes as land-based tornadoesCan originate on land
Non-tornadic (Fair-weather)Warm water heats air from belowAir becomes unstableRises and condensesVisible water is water vapor
Researching waterspoutsInternational Centre for Waterspout Research
(ICWR)Founded 2008Wade Szilagyi
Szilagyi Scale[-10, 10]Positive number indicates waterspouts are likelyLikelihood increases approaching +10
Global Waterspout Mapping ProjectBegun 2011To understand global distribution of waterspouts
But what about the fish?Small creatures can be sucked into the vortex
and deposited on land
Do you buy it?If the water doesn’t get sucked up, why would the
fish?
Yoro 200 km from Atlantic Ocean
1970’s – National Geographic team found fish are blind
Other reports of fish rainSri Lanka – 2012, 2014
Lajamanu, Australia – 2010
Kerala, India – 2008
Agusan del Sur, Philippines – 2012
Knighton, Wales – 2004
TakeawaysWaterspouts are like tornadoes over water
Weaker (5 – 100 m, 90 mph) but still dangerous
Can be tornadic or non-tornadic
Visible water is from vapor, not the body of water below
Check out Yoro, because YOLO
Works Cited http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lluvia-de-peces-the-rain-of-
fish
http://www.earthsci.org/processes/weather/wea1/wea1.html
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/121223/news/raining-fishnfrogs-instead-of-proverbial-catsndogs-25769.html
http://www.livescience.com/37820-lluvia-de-peces-fish-rain.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27298939
http://archive.financialexpress.com/news/fish-rain-takes-kerala-villagers-by-surprise/272219
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/244651/news/nation/it-s-raining-fish-it-s-normal
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3582802.stm