TEXARKANA, Texas — As the skies darkened over Texarkana, Texas, on Wednesday, the clouds dropped more than water onto the town that straddles the Arkansas state line.
Reports of fish falling from the sky during a round of showers were confirmed by countless photos and videos posted by residents online.
While the event was brief, countless fish were left in yards and business parking lots on the Texas side of the city of approximately 36,000. The reports of falling fish were also made across the state line on the Arkansas side, a separate city of around 29,000 people.
"Animal rain" happens when small animals like fish, frogs, and even crabs are caught up in updrafts or tornadic waterspouts and are dropped in distant locations along with regular rainfall, according to the National Geographic Society.
However, meteorologists with the National Weather Service said Thursday there were no reports of nearby waterspouts and no radar signature was detected.
"It's certainly a headscratcher," one meteorologist said.