Earthworms rain down from skies over Norway, puzzling scientists

Meteorologists and biologists have been left baffled by earthworms raining from the sky over Southern Norway.

According to Norwegian news service The Local, the most recent phenomenon was discovered by biology teacher Karstein Erstad while he was skiing in the mountains.

“I saw thousands of earthworms on the surface of the snow,” he said.

“When I found them on the snow they seemed to be dead, but when I put them in my hand I found that they were alive.”

He thought they might have crawled through the snow, but rejected this idea, as the snow was over half a metre thick across the mountains.

This is not the only time an area experiencing worms raining from the sky in Norway, with other cases found in Molde and Bergen, both in the south of the country.

One popular theory on random animal rain suggest that the worms may have been lifted up by a violent air pocket and then brought back down miles away from where they started.

Another theory says water spouts, weather systems similar to tornadoes, can travel from seas onto land and pick up vegetation, debris, and small animals, carrying them miles away from where they started before they blow themselves out.

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