© Christine Balmer
This week's trawl through the news archives reveals an incident of some very fishy weather...

Residents of a remote desert town in Australia were shocked to witness fish raining from the sky - especially as the town is located over 300 miles from the nearest river!

And the freak event happened not once, but twice, on the Thursday and Friday afternoon, at about 6pm

Hundreds of small white fish fell from rain clouds over Lajamanu in the Northern Territory. Many of the fish, believed to be Spangled perch, were still alive.

Weather experts believe that the fish were sucked up during a tornado or thunderstorm before being dumped over the town.

Weather bureau senior forecaster Ashley Patterson said the geological conditions were perfect on the Friday for a tornado in the region, although none had been reported to the authority.

"It's a very unusual event," he said. He explained that with an updraft, the fish and water picked up could get as high as 60,000 ft. or more.

Resident Christine Balmer was walking home when the fish began to fall. She said: "These fish fell in their hundreds and hundreds all over the place. The locals were running around everywhere picking them up. These fish were alive when they hit the ground.

"All I can say is that I'm thankful that it didn't rain crocodiles!"

Apparently this isn't the first time the tiny town of Lajamanu has been hit by falling fish. In 2004, there were reports of fish falling from the sky, and in 1974, a similar incident hit the headlines.