NASA Confirms Meteor Caused Loud Boom Across Northeast Ohio and Pennsylvania
The U.S. National WeatherService (NWS) has identified Tuesday morning around 9:00 AM EDT loud explosions heard from Northeast Ohio and as far away as New York City, attributing them to a rare daytime meteor that entered Earth's atmosphere near Medina, about twenty-five miles south of Cleveland; this event was confirmed by NASA imagery which captured what appeared like lightning-like flash over the region.
Key Points
-
1A rare daytime fireball streaking across northern Ohio and parts of Pennsylvania was confirmed by the National Weather Service to be caused by meteor entering Earth's atmosphere.
-
2Residents in northeastern Ohio reported hearing a thunderous boom that shook homes, with sounds described as sonic booms or explosions heard from Cleveland upstate New York
-
3NASA identified NASA spotted an object near Medina, OH approximately 25 miles south of downtown Clevelan on Tuesday morning at around nine am local time.
Developments
On March 17 morning over northern Ohio and Pennsylvania, a massive fireball streaked across broad daylight skies at nearly 45,000 mph before breaking apart in an explosion equivalent to 250 tons of TNT. Scientists confirmed the object was approximately seven tons weighing space rock that entered Earth's atmosphere from about 30 miles above Lake Erie, causing ground shaking and sparking panic despite being visible during daytime hours when such events are rare.
A small asteroid approximately six feet in diameter entered the upper atmosphere over northeastern Ohio and Pennsylvania at 45,000 miles per hour before fragmenting into multiple pieces near Valley City. The event generated a loud boom felt across states including New York and Illinois as well as visible fireballs tracked by satellite imagery from NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office
Residents in Ohio and Pennsylvania reported a loud boom followed by fireballs as scientists identified Tuesday's event likely caused an atmospheric entry near Medina, about 40 miles southwest of Cleveland at speeds between 25,000 and 160,000 mph. Meteorite hunters are expected to find small black rocks in the area where experts believe a space object broke through Earth's atmosphere before landing on Tuesday morning around nine a.m., ET
Forecasters from Ohio and Pennsylvania's National Weather Service confirmed a loud boom heard Tuesday morning was likely caused by an unidentified meteor entering the atmosphere near Cleveland on geostationary lightning maps. While experts believe most of it burned up, they warn that some fragments may still be scattered across western PA and eastern OH for people to find later in their search efforts today