On July 31, 2017, the coastal town of Weymouth in Dorset, England, was battered by severe rain, which brought with it a shower of snails. The phenomenon, captured on video, was attributed to a waterspout over the English Channel that swept up the snails and deposited them inland. The event was reported in local and national news, adding to the long history of animal rain in the UK.

The Weymouth snail rain was noted by contemporary British poets, who saw in it a whimsical but unsettling example of nature's unpredictability. The event inspired poems and social media posts that explored the surreal intersection of the mundane and the marvelous in everyday life, echoing the traditions of British eccentricity in poetry.