Town Rains Corn, Baffles Weather Experts

WICHITA, Kan. (Reuters) - Townspeople and weather experts were scratching
their heads in puzzlement after large quantities of corn husks fell from
the skies on Wichita, Kansas, over the weekend.

According to news reports, thousands of foot-long (30-cm-long) and larger
leaves from corn stalks fell like rain across the eastern edge of this
south-central Kansas city on Saturday and Sunday.

"It was a pretty large area where people reported it," said Weather Data
Inc. meteorologist Chad Pettera. "I think it is very odd."

Pettera said that in cases of high winds, tornadoes, thunderstorms and
other extreme weather events it was not unusual for objects to fall from
the sky after getting blown long distances.

But there has been no unusual weather to explain the falling corn husks,
he said.

"In our area there has been no weather to speak of, no high winds. It's
just been very hot and dry" he said.

Some speculated that an airplane may somehow have been responsible, but
there is no evidence to back up the theory.

"There weren't strong winds. I don't see how they could have gotten blown
up in the air," National Weather Service meteorological technician Holly
Kreutzer told a local newspaper.

Kansas is known as the largest wheat producing state in the United States,
but also grows a significant amount of corn each summer. 

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