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By Joe Edwards
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A wave of meteor sightings was reported across a wide swath of the U.S.—from Ohio and Texas to the Pacific Northwest and California—over the course of just one week.
On March 17, NASA confirmed a six-foot, roughly 17,000-pound meteor traveling about 44,000 miles per hour broke up over the Lake Erie region near Cleveland, producing a loud boom felt across northeast Ohio and beyond.
The National Weather Service (NWS) in Cleveland said satellite data supported that the boom was caused by a meteor, while the NWS office in Pittsburgh reported a fireball and boom with video captured by a staff member.
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A dashcam and security cameras recorded the Ohio fireball, and local outlet WOIO reported that the boom shortly before 9 a.m. was heard across northeast Ohio and into neighboring states and parts of Canada.
On Saturday of the same week, NASA said a meteor about three feet in diameter and weighing roughly a ton was seen over Stagecoach, northwest of Houston, moving southeast at about 35,000 miles per hour before fragmenting about 29 miles above the Bammel area and producing a pressure wave that caused booms.
The American Meteor Society reported the Texas object exploded just before 4:40 p.m. with its path most likely near Magnolia toward Monroe, and infrared satellite detected the flash, according to MyRadar Weather.
In the Houston area, resident Sherrie James told local media she believed a rock that crashed through her roof and into her daughter’s bedroom may have come from the meteor, and a responding fire captain said the object appeared unusual, FOX 26 reported.
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On Sunday, well over 200 eyewitnesses in California, Nevada, and Arizona reported a fireball first seen about 49 miles above Chowchilla, California, moving south near 35,000 miles per hour and disintegrating above Colfax around 29 miles altitude, FOX Weather reported.
A bright green fireball was captured on dashcam at 6:06 a.m. on a Monday in the Pacific Northwest by driver Jason Jenkins north of Portland, Oregon, the Associated Press reported.
The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry said green coloration in such fireballs is often linked to magnesium as the meteor heats and vaporizes, and noted the object’s altitude and timing made it widely visible, according to the outlet.
Additionally, a fireball spotted across parts of the Midwest on Monday night was caused by a small asteroid fragment that entered Earth’s atmosphere, according to NASA. The meteor, traveling about 29,000 miles per hour, was first detected roughly 42 miles above Hope, Michigan, before breaking apart over Saginaw Bay. At its brightest, the object—about four inches in diameter and weighing roughly a pound—was around 40 times brighter than Venus, NASA said.
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