If it hadn’t been for the clouds, the half-tonne fireball would have been visible during the day at a brightness that was maybe 100 times that of a full moon.
Officials said a meteor that generated an earth-shaking boom over suburban Pittsburgh on New Year’s Day detonated in the atmosphere with an energy blast equivalent to an estimated 30 tonnes (27,200kg) of TNT, causing a shockwave that lasted for several minutes.
As people rushed to social media in quest of answers, the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh originally responded by claiming that the most likely explanation was a “meteor explosion.”
Nasa’s Meteor Watch later reported the meteor blast in a Facebook post on Monday, noting that a nearby infrasound station recorded the blast wave from the meteor as it broke apart, creating sonic booms. The meteor burst was first reported by the National Weather Service on Sunday.
The energy released was calculated to be 30 tonnes (27,200 kilos) of TNT based on the data.
The loud explosion heard over SW PA earlier may have been a meteor explosion. This GOES-16 GLM Total Optical Energy product shows a flash that was not associated with lightning. No confirmation, but this is the most likely explanation at this time. pic.twitter.com/ArtHCEA1RT
— NWS Pittsburgh (@NWSPittsburgh) January 1, 2022
“If we make a reasonable assumption as to the meteor’s speed (45,000mph, or 72,400km/h), we can ballpark the object’s size at about a yard in diameter, with a mass close to half a tonne,” the agency explained.
Unless it not been for the gloomy conditions, the fireball would have been plainly visible in the daytime sky, the report added, with its brightness possibly reaching 100 times that of the full moon.
According to National Weather Service meteorologist Shannon Hefferan, satellite data recorded a flare over Washington County shortly before 11.30 a.m. on Saturday, and officials suspected it was caused by a meteor “falling through the atmosphere.” An incident comparable to this occurred on September 17 in Hardy County, West Virginia, according to Hefferan.
Several residents in South Hills and adjacent neighborhoods reported hearing a loud explosion and feeling their homes shake and rattle. Allegheny County officials stated that they had confirmed that there had been no seismic activity, as well as no thunder and lightning, as previously reported.
“[It] was such a loud boom and shook my house in Verona. Grabbed my dog as we were both startled … thought earthquake, train derailment or big crash on turnpike behind my house,” one person said in response to the blast.
“We seen and heard it here in Southwest Ohio we saw a huge flash and approximately three or four seconds later a huge boom it literally shook our house I thought someone did light some dynamite,” another man added.
My security cameras caught the "boom" sound too. It was LOUD pic.twitter.com/NEhynXQIbP
— Dobie Tanpaw (@lildobe) January 1, 2022
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