Nikki Simmons with Smith County ESD #2 said dispatchers received multiple reports of a blue fireball seen across Cherokee and Smith County.
CHEROKEE COUNTY, Texas — Multiple callers reported a “blue fireball” over parts of East Texas Saturday afternoon that was later revealed to be a mteor.
Nikki Simmons with Smith County ESD #2 said dispatchers received multiple reports of a blue fireball seen across Cherokee and Smith County. NASA Space Alerts released a preliminary report confirming it was a meteor which became visible 49 miles above Stagecoach, northwest of Houston.
NASA said the meteor moved southeast at 35,000 mph, breaking apart 29 miles above Bammel, just west of Cypress Station.
The fragmentation of the meteor, which weighed roughly one ton and had a diameter of three feet, created a pressure wave that caused booms heard by some in the area. Our Houston sister station KHOU reported callers heard a loud boom in South Texas on Saturday afternoon, with some people witnessing the meteor streaking overhead.