A Massive 80x80 Mile Swarm Of Ladybugs Showed Up On Weather Radar

June 7, 2019

A mysterious blob caught on weather radar in San Diego turned out to be a massive swarm of ladybugs.

Meteorologists in Southern California spotted the huge blob on the National Weather Service radar that looked like a rain cloud -- but it wasn't raining.

"It was very strange because it was a relatively clear day and we weren't really expecting any rain or thunderstorms," meteorologist Casey Oswant of the National Weather Service in San Diego told NPR.

After seeing it on the radar, meteorologist Joe Dandrea called a spotter in San Bernardino to ask what they were seeing. The spotters noticed some ladybugs, and concluded the giant weird blob was a tremendous swarm of beetles.

"I don't think they're dense like a cloud," Dandrea said. "The observer there said you could see little specks flying by."

Dandrea said from the radar, the ladybug bloom appears to be about 80 miles by 80 miles.

The large echo showing up on SoCal radar this evening is not precipitation, but actually a cloud of lady bugs termed a "bloom" #CAwx pic.twitter.com/1C0rt0in6z

— NWS San Diego (@NWSSanDiego) June 5, 2019

"It's not exactly clear why we're seeing this big swarm now that we haven't before," entomologist John Losey of Cornell University told NPR.

Meanwhile, the blob has disappeared off the radar. So it's possible that we'll never know what caused the phenonemon.