A loud explosion heard and felt in various parts of the United States this morning is believed to have been caused by a meteor. The boom rattled eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania on Tuesday morning, leading residents to inundate the 911 line with reports of a quake-like blast. The National Weather Service (NWS) in Pittsburgh received accounts of a bright fireball in the sky along with the loud boom, suggesting that it may have been a meteor entering the atmosphere, as indicated by satellite data.
Images from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s GOES-19 satellite shared by the weather service in Cleveland further supported the theory that the boom was caused by a meteor. Video footage captured by News 5 displayed the meteor streaking across Northeast Ohio skies.
The American Meteor Society received over 100 meteor reports from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and even Canada. Witnesses described the event, with one observer from Cincinnati, Ohio, mentioning that the meteor was visible but the accompanying boom was not heard. Comparing it to the Russian meteor incident in 2013, the observer found the experience reminiscent but without the explosive sound.
Although the National Weather Service attributed the loud boom in Cleveland to a meteor, the American Meteor Society has not yet provided their assessment on the sighting. The NWS in Cleveland shared a photo from a Geostationary Lightning Mapper showing a green flash over the city, confirming the meteor’s impact.
Geostationary Lightning Mappers, such as the one used by the NOAA, can detect bright meteors that flash similarly to lightning. The technology captures Earth images at a rapid rate, enabling precise measurement of a meteor’s light curve and aiding in identifying meteor-related events quickly for public notification.
Witnessing meteors during daylight is a rare occurrence due to sunlight masking most meteor entries into the atmosphere, as noted by the National Geographic. Recent meteor sightings in Ohio have been captured on various cameras, adding to the growing interest in celestial events in the region.
The boom was heard as far as New York and Pennsylvania, suggesting the widespread impact of the meteor event. Satellite data from the NWS indicated a lightning strike around 9 am EDT, leading meteorologists to attribute the occurrence to a meteor despite the absence of a thunderstorm in the area.
NASA defines meteors as fireballs or “shooting stars” created when meteoroids enter the Earth’s atmosphere at high velocities and burn up. Pittsburgh’s National Weather Service corroborated reports of a fireball in the sky, reinforcing the likelihood of a meteor entering the atmosphere.
Residents of Ohio and Pennsylvania reported hearing the loud boom around 9 am EDT on Tuesday morning. The event underscores the fascination and impact of meteor sightings in the region, capturing the attention of locals and meteor enthusiasts alike.