A meteor, detected by NASA moving at 35,000 mph over Houston, created sonic booms as it fragmented, with parts possibly hitting a woman’s home.
HOUSTON — A bright fireball streaked across southeast Texas skies, creating a booming rumble when a meteor broke through the Earth’s atmosphere on Saturday. One woman claims a fragment crashed through her home.
According to NASA, the meteor became visible over Stagecoach, traveling southeast at roughly 35,000 miles per hour before breaking apart roughly 29 miles above the Earth’s surface just west of Cyprus station around 4:40 p.m. Central Time.
The fragmentation of the meteor, which NASA said weighed roughly a ton and had a 3-foot diameter, created a pressure wave that caused a loud booming noise.
“The disintegration of the asteroidal fragment … unleashed an energy of 26 tons of TNT, creating a pressure wave that propagated to the ground and (caused) booms heard by some in the area,” a NASA All Sky Fireball Network report detailed.
The space agency also said doppler weather radar appeared to show that meteorites, which are meteor fragments that reach the Earth’s surface, were likely produced between Willowbrook and Northgate Crossing.
An analysis of the strewn field, where scientists estimate the location of potential fallen meteorites, suggests the highest likelihood for fragments would have landed in the Spring area, just north of Houston. That’s where a woman claims a possible meteorite crashed through her roof of her home.
‘That looks like a meteor’
Sherrie James, who lives in the Spring area, claims she found a possible meteorite, after a rock crashed through the roof of her home and landed in an upstairs bedroom.
“We heard a big boom,” James told KHOU 11. “My grandson went to check and said there was a hole in the ceiling. … Then I saw the rock, and I thought, ‘That looks like a meteor.’”
James said the object tore through the roof, punched a hole in the ceiling, then bounced off the floor, ricocheted back into the ceiling, and landed near a TV in an upstairs bedroom.
Nobody was injured, despite the damage, but James said it would have been a close call if someone were in the room at the time of the incident.
James said she called the local fire department, which initially told her it could be something that fell off an airplane, but crews told her shortly after that they were aware of reports of a meteor breaking apart in the area.
“I’m very excited to get this, but a little scared,” she said. “I think this is what it is, and I’m definitely going to keep it.”
Elsewhere in Greater Houston, residents shared eyewitness accounts about what they saw and heard.
Many described the boom as being accompanied by a rumble, prompting comparisons to thunder, despite clear skies.
In Old Katy, Amy Campbell said the boom had a “long, low rumble” that sounded like an explosion. Mike Glosson of Cy-Fair said the sound lasted about 15 seconds and shook his house, while Viann Bonoan in Hockley reported that the boom caused her home to vibrate.
Many witnesses reported seeing a bright streak or fireball in the sky.
Patricia Smith in League City described a fireball streaking from south to north, flaming for only a few seconds, with the boom arriving a couple of minutes later.
In Richmond, Sadiq Pa said the fireball disappeared almost instantly, and Shylie Troquille in Dickinson saw a small ball of fire in broad daylight that burned out quickly.