Spider rain, spider rain, falls whenever the land's aflame

June 2, 2018 2:04 PM

The whole idea is definitely nightmare fuel, but yeah, it happens. Millions of spiders falling from the sky, as if they were descending from the clouds. In fact, there could be spiders floating above you right now! And that's why we invented houses. Simon Whistler of Today I Found Out explains how spider rain happens, and why it is often seen as a good thing. (Spider rain previously)
posted by Johnny Wallflower (24 comments total)

Neat!
posted by not_the_water at 2:16 PM on June 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

spoilers: australia
posted by poffin boffin at 2:18 PM on June 2, 2018 [9 favorites]

I gave my wife, an arachnophobe, a somewhat lurid synopsis of the video and got to watch her eyebrows recede into her hairline...
posted by jim in austin at 2:31 PM on June 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

Cool! I wonder what happens to the web that covers the area after they’ve all landed. Does it eventually fall apart and drift away, or what?
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 2:46 PM on June 2, 2018

Of course it's Australia. What other place is bonkers enough for this?

disclaimer: I'm Australian.
posted by ephemerae at 3:03 PM on June 2, 2018 [2 favorites]

spoilers: australia

I'm fairly certain that this is true in North America as well. Someone will surely correct me if I'm mistaken, but I recall learning that this is what Black and Yellow Striped Garden Spiders for one do after they hatch. The only difference is that they're really tiny so as to be unnoticeable.
posted by dances with hamsters at 3:03 PM on June 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

Neat! No spider post can be complete with the obligatory Lucas the Spider link.
posted by bouvin at 3:07 PM on June 2, 2018 [4 favorites]

The only difference is that they're really tiny so as to be unnoticeable.

Telling me that I might be inhaling innumerable spiders too tiny to be seen at any given moment is not the best way to get me to relax.
posted by delfin at 3:21 PM on June 2, 2018 [9 favorites]

There's a "spider season" in Chicago where all the windows in the high-rises downtown get covered in webs from disturbingly large spiders that apparently drift in on the wind and set up shop.
posted by lagomorphius at 4:07 PM on June 2, 2018 [3 favorites]

I read in an article a while back that the air higher up is teeming with hordes of migrating insects, so enjoy your next picnic, under a cloud of floating spiders and mosquitoes.

I only wanted to see you laughing, in the spider rain.
posted by Query at 4:35 PM on June 2, 2018 [9 favorites]

This seems to happen in a lot of places, including Texas and (warning, Daily Mail link) Sussex. It's where the word "gossamer" comes from - I think it derives from "goose summer" the late autumn, when fattened geese were killed and eaten. It has also been used to make a beautiful fabric.
posted by Fuchsoid at 4:40 PM on June 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

The best of Charlotte's web
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 4:47 PM on June 2, 2018 [9 favorites]

We saw this when we were at Yosemite a bunch of years ago - we were on a short hike up around Glacier Point and looked up at the sky and realized it was all shimmering. Gossamer. It was spectacular and surreal and unforgettable.
posted by rtha at 5:53 PM on June 2, 2018 [7 favorites]

Such lovely lovely old-school naturalist science writing in that “Texas” link, Fuchsoid! Thanks for sharing.
posted by brambleboy at 5:57 PM on June 2, 2018 [2 favorites]

I'm mentally inserting spider into song titles with rain in them, and giggling. Fool in the Spider Rain. Purple Spider Rain. Blame it on the Spider Rain. Here Comes the Spider Rain Again. Spider Raining in Memphis. Only Happy When It Spider Rains.

I could go on.
posted by axiom at 9:46 PM on June 2, 2018 [5 favorites]

I think this happens in most places, in the drier months, it s fun to look up in he sky and see the shimmer
posted by eustatic at 7:19 AM on June 3, 2018

And none who have witnessed all
Can think of a nobler cause
Than perishing in
The spider rain
posted by Countess Elena at 7:51 AM on June 3, 2018 [2 favorites]

I can feel them
Landing in my hair tonight
Oh lord

*drum fill*
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:42 AM on June 3, 2018 [5 favorites]

This is probably what's happening,
When doves cry
posted by CynicalKnight at 10:27 AM on June 3, 2018

someone left the cake out in the spider rain
I don't think that I can take it,
`cause it took so long to bake it
and I'll never have that recipe again
posted by The Vice Admiral of the Narrow Seas at 12:28 PM on June 3, 2018

Red spider rain is falling down all over me...
posted by mightshould at 12:41 PM on June 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

*nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh
nuh nuh nuh*

*dun dun dun*

Raining spiders
From a lacerated sky
Webbing the trees
Creating my structure now I shall reign in spiders!
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:34 PM on June 3, 2018

I require a large hamster ball. Very large. Like really big.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 9:14 PM on June 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

Spider Rain
Some stay dry and others feel the pain
posted by panic at 11:16 PM on June 3, 2018