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It is now believed that a thunderous boom that rocked parts of upstate New York on Wednesday afternoon was caused by an unusually large meteor passing through Earth’s atmosphere.
The widespread noise is said to have rocked homes in Onondaga County, leaving some residents mystified, and arousing fears of a gas explosion. According to Robert Lunsford, a “fireball report coordinator” with the American Meteor Society, the boom was produced by a meteor of impressive size and long-lasting exploding over Syracuse.
“Normally, meteors completely decay when they are high in the atmosphere,” Lunsford told Gothamist. “If they can survive far enough where the atmosphere can carry sound waves, you can hear a sound boom.”
He noted that meteors that produce sound are rare, adding that it takes “exceptional circumstances” for fireballs to be visible in daylight.
Overcast skies over Syracuse blocked most sightings there, but the American Meteor Society recorded 64 reports, from Buffalo, Maryland, of people who witnessed the meteor shortly after noon on Wednesday.
Although New Yorkers haven’t experienced the phenomenon, Lunsford has promised that we will soon have the chance to see rocks falling from the sky: the annual Geminid meteor shower is expected to peak on December 13-14 and should be visible from all.
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