Reports of “boom” and shaking this morning, most likely a fireball

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) – Numerous reports arrived across the region this morning of a “boom” and ground shaking. The most likely cause is a fireball or a very large meteor and we just uploaded a new video to WHSV. This video is from Sandra Dickerson in West Virginia. Watch for flashes at the start then a second flash at 7 seconds.

Power outages have also been reported in Hardy County.

The first reports arrived as a possible explosion in Shenandoah County, but no explosion was found. Suspicion then turned to a possible earthquake. Dozens of earthquake reports have been sent to Volcanodiscovery.com, but no earthquakes have been reported by the USGS.

Satellite data detected lightning over Hardy County at around 10:30 a.m. and there were no storms in the area.

It is now suspected that this is a meteor impact. This is not confirmed at this time.

Chief meteorologist Aubrey Urbanowicz spoke with Bill Cooke, head of NASA’s Meteorological Environment Program. Cooke says daytime weather events are very rare and depend on eyewitness reports and weather cameras.

The problem with the eyewitness reports this morning was that it was very cloudy and the visualization was obscured. With weather cameras, they are turned off during the day to protect the cameras from sunlight.

Cooke researched the data this morning and said the meteor’s brightness would likely be as bright as the moon. (Brightness not size).

According to Cooke, “This corresponds to an energy of between 1 and 2 tons of TNT, resulting in a mass of about 50 pounds (25 kilograms) for the object causing the fireball (assuming a typical speed of 45,000). miles per hour). It is possible that this event produced meteorites somewhere in northern Virginia and eastern West Virginia. “

NASA is still investigating this event. They are looking for more reports and will continue to update. This image below is satellite flash data that was picked up over Hardy County corresponding to the fireball.

Woodstock surveillance video captured a loud sound this morning. We also received other loud bangs sent from Rileyville, VA and Wardensville, WV.

If you have surveillance video, we would be grateful if you would check back this morning between 10:25 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. to see if you may have captured anything on video.

The clouds in place obstructed the view if it was in fact a meteor, which is the most likely scenario. We ask you to check your surveillance video but also to look for any visual reports. This way, NASA can determine a trajectory.

If you have videos you can download them here:

If you’ve seen something in the sky this morning, or know someone who may have seen something, you can report it to the American Meteor Society. Right now there are two reports of a Friday morning fireball.

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