Residents across multiple states were startled on Tuesday as a loud boom, believed to be a meteor crashing into Earth, echoed across the region.
Witnesses in Pittsburgh reported seeing what appeared to be a burning object streaking through the sky, describing it as ‘a rocket or something like a meteor.’
One local wrote online: ‘911 calls in the city. I have relatives who heard the boom from Hinckley, Ohio, all the way to Sandusky.’
‘Totally reminded me of the sonic booms produced by the fighter-jet test pilots in the early 1960s,’ another person shared.
The National Weather Service (NWS) later said the fiery object was likely a meteor entering Earth’s atmosphere.
The meteor was spotted by space satellites around 9am ET and seen by human eyes about one hour later.
As of January 2026, the Meteoritical Bulletin Database has recorded 1,270 officially confirmed ‘observed falls,’ meteorites that were seen falling to Earth and later recovered.
Scientists estimate around 17,000 meteorites strike the planet each year, but most land in oceans or remote areas, meaning only about 1.8 percent of meteorites have actually been witnessed.
Witnesses in Pittsburgh reported seeing what appeared to be a burning object streaking through the sky, describing it as ‘a rocket or something like a meteor.’
Residents across Ohio and Pennsylvania were startled Tuesday morning as a loud boom echoed across the region
Officials from the NWS Cleveland stated that the meteor likely burned up or disintegrated high in the atmosphere, approximately 25 miles up over the Northeast Ohio/Lake Erie region.
Some officials speculated that if any fragments survived, they could have landed in Lake Erie.
There have been no reports of injuries or property damage caused by the landing.
The ‘explosion’ reported across the region was a sonic boom created by the meteor shooting through the atmosphere at speeds over 25,000 mph.
Residents across the region flooded social media with reports of a powerful blast, with many describing a thunderous noise that shook homes and echoed for miles.
Some said it sounded like multiple explosions or rolling vibrations, while others reported spotting a glowing fireball and a bright streak tearing across the sky.
One Cleveland resident posted on X: ‘Loud boom in Cleveland today. They are saying a meteor! The house shook; it was scary.’
‘Heard and felt here on the west side of Cleveland. One loud boom followed immediately by a smaller or ‘echo’ boom,’ another local shared.
The ‘explosion’ reported across the region was a sonic boom created by the meteor shooting through the atmosphere at speeds over 25,000 mph
The meteor was spotted by space satellites around 9am ET and seen by human eyes about one hour later
‘Didn’t quite shake the house; it more like reverberated through it. Thought it was a truck or something until my Sister messaged me that she heard it too.’
Meteoroids are small rocky objects that travel through space, ranging in size from tiny dust particles to fragments as large as small asteroids.
When one of these objects enters Earth’s atmosphere at high speed, it burns up due to intense friction, creating a bright streak of light known as a meteor, often called a ‘shooting star.’
If any part of the object survives its fiery descent and reaches the ground, it is then classified as a meteorite.