Every once in awhile, the weather likes to pull fast ones on us. Sometimes it inspires a random Bostonian to dress up as a Yeti during this winter’s record-breaking snowfall. That’s explainable — cabin fever. But how will science explain what happened when earth worms rained in Norway?
According to UPI:
“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 said. “In many places, the snow thickness was between half a meter and a meter (1 1/2 feet to 3 feet) and I think they would have problems crawling through the cold snow.”
Erstad took a sample to Trond Haraldsen, an environmental expert at the Bioforsk research institute in Norway.
“This is a phenomenon we know from the literature, but it is the first time in my time as a scientist that I have got the message that it has happened on the snow,” Haralsen told the Bergens Tidende.
Yes, it rained earth worms in Norway. And yes, it’s a weather phenomenon scientists “know from the literature.” In other words, this has happened before.
I for one welcome our new flying earth worm overlords.
(Via UPI)