Spiders are ‘falling’ from the SKY in California: Locals report seeing webs with spiderlings floating in the air

It may be sunny in California, but it’s also raining spiders.

Residents along the Central Coast are reportedly seeing webs of spiders falling from the sky.

Several online videos show white structures floating in the air and sticking to the ground and buildings, which one local likened to the “fake spider web stuff you buy at the Halloween store.”

Although the incidents are bizarre, a biologist revealed that the ‘web’ consists of silky baby spiders that spin to migrate to new habitats.

Several online videos show white structures floating in the air and sticking to the ground and buildings, which one local likened to the “fake spider web stuff you buy at the Halloween store.”

“What they are are strands of silk that spiders, baby spiders, use to spread,” Fred Larabee, an assistant professor of biology at San Jose State University, told the SF Chronicle.

‘To get away from where they were originally born, they spin these silken strands and are caught by the wind, which draws the spiders to a new place to live, to new habitats, so they don’t compete with their brothers and sisters . ‘

The reports come from San Francisco, San Jose, Danville and Gilroy.

A California resident shared a video on TikTok asking the public to help unravel the mystery of the falling webs.

Residents of Monterey County and the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District also shared their observations of the mysterious web

A local resident told Kion56, a local news station, that it smelled of chemicals and, when set on fire, burst into a fireball and burned like plastic.

“It’s sticky (and) silky and falls from the sky,” she said in the video.

She went on to explain that the web was all over the telephone poles.

“It’s the weirdest thing,” she said.

Residents of Monterey County and the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District also shared their observations of the mysterious web.

A local resident told it Kion56a local news station, that it smelled of chemicals and, when set on fire, burst into a fireball and burned like plastic.

California State University professor John E. Banks told the newspaper that people are witnessing a process called ballooning.

Although the incidents are bizarre, a biologist revealed that the ‘web’ consists of silky baby spiders that spin to migrate to new habitats

Banks said spiders will spin silken threads when they become frightened or run out of food, which are then caught by the wind and carried to a new location.

“It’s a special term we use for the way spiders spread from habitat to habitat,” he said.

“Most spiders, as you can imagine, have difficulty walking around on the ground and crossing barriers like Highway 1 or some of the structures we’ve built.”

He also said it could be an evolutionary practice for spiders that live in areas where their food supply is insecure, such as farmland.