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Residents of north Memphis woke up to a webbed weekend courtesy millions of spiders that decided to take to the air and descend in large numbers.

According to several reports, a half-mile long web was spotted on grass and many homes were teeming with spiders.

"I've seen about 20 on my porch just in the last day. They said they want the city to step in and help get rid of them. Clean this area up and spray for these spiders and make it safe. There are kids running around. A spider could bite the kids or anything," one resident identified as Ida Morris told WMCActionNews5.

The Washington Post quoted experts assuring residents that spiders are harmless and the phenomenon occurs when juvenile spiders release web into the air hoping to catch the wind and take off to migrate. The mass event even has a name to it - 'Ballooning'.

Such events were reported in other parts of the world this year. Residents of Southern Australia witnessed one of the largest ballooning events of the year when many towns and neighbourhoods got completely covered in web.

While assuring residents that species ballooning into the air in Tennessee are harmless to humans, researchers say such events are an indication that ecology is working well in the area.