Mystery of the Falling Frogs

We have had a lot rain lately but in all that wet I didn't see any frogs.  However on Tuesday the 2 December 1947 a shower of rain in Newtown apparently brought out hundreds of frogs.  Some of the eyewitnesses claim that the frogs came down with the rain.  This reminds me of the final scene of "Magnolia" in which Los Angeles experiences frogs raining from the sky. Apparently the technical term is a 'raining animal' event.  A teenage boy from Newtown said that he saw frogs hitting the ground in front of him on King Street (Princess Highway) and Yelverton Street.  There were hundreds of small ones and a few big ones he claimed.  Most of them were green and few were brown. Those that did not suffer fatal injuries from reaching terminal velocity were squashed by cars.

Thankfully after consulting Wikipedia my doubt about this 'natural' phenomena was all but cleared up.  One of the theories is that strong winds traveling over water sometimes pick up creatures such as fish or frogs and carry them for several miles.  The scientists in 1947 suggested it might have been a waterspout.  However they also pointed out that frogs which would die in dry conditions hide in cracks and under cover and come out in great numbers with rain.   

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Sources

 1947 'MYSTERY FROGS.', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 3 December, p. 3, viewed 6 May, 2012, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18052015

Wikipedia contributors. Raining animals. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. April 29, 2012, 14:33 UTC. Available at:http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Raining_animals&oldid=489789630. Accessed May 6, 2012.