Meteor Boom Shakes Cleveland: NASA Confirms Asteroid Event
Cleveland, OH — A loud explosion resonated across northeastern Ohio on Tuesday morning, capturing the attention of residents and prompting inquiries on social media. NASA has since confirmed that the noise was the result of an asteroid measuring six feet in diameter and weighing approximately seven tons.
One local resident, Jace Craft Miller, took to X (formerly Twitter) to express their astonishment, stating, “Heard the loudest boom just now in northeast OH. People heard it as far as Avon. What was that? Meteor? @NWSCLE.”
Eyewitness reports have emerged from across ten states, including Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and even as far as the District of Columbia and Ontario, Canada. More than a dozen individuals documented sightings of the celestial body, which illuminated the sky at 8:56 a.m. EDT.
According to NASA, the asteroid released an estimated energy equivalent to 250 tons of TNT upon disintegrating in the atmosphere, generating a pressure wave that resulted in the explosive sounds reported by numerous witnesses.
The National Weather Service (NWS) office in Cleveland affirmed the meteor’s presence via a tweet, showcasing Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) imagery that indicated a significant event over northeast Ohio. The GLM technology captures light from meteors, as their brilliance resembles lightning strikes; the flares of light from meteors can mimic ongoing lightning flashes.
NWS meteorologist Brian Mitchell indicated to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, “We have not heard of anything actually hitting the ground.” This raises the possibility that the meteor completely disintegrated in the atmosphere before making contact with the Earth.
Jim Sullivan, another meteorologist with the NWS, speculated that the sounds experienced may have been sonic booms created by the meteor’s high-speed trajectory. Video footage of the fireball recorded by residents showed a spectacular streak across the sky, with one staff member from the NWS Pittsburgh capturing the event on camera.
Further reports to the American Meteorological Society corroborated the sightings, adding to the intrigue surrounding this rare occurrence. One resident described the experience, stating, “Heard it on the east side of Cleveland. Sounded like a bomb or dynamite going off. My house shook.”
As investigations continue into this striking meteor event, updates will be provided on weather.com.
Source: Original Source
