[John H K]

One problem is that people will routinely claim that a meteor "landed just beyond the next mountain" when it never got closer than 60 miles to earth.

There's an overwhelming optical illusion from a bright fireball that's it's much closer than it actually was.

And meteorite impacts NEVER EVER start fires, unless it's a truly enormous worldkiller that would have killed half the people in Spain or whatever.

Meteorites basically always impact at room temperature. Seeing someone claiming small fires were started, or they saw a meteor land and it was a rock that was hot to the touch guarantees the story is 100% bogus.

[blam]

A painting of the Tunguska event a few minutes after it exploded...from eyewitness accounts TUNGUSKA

[WackyKat]

Meteorites basically always impact at room temperature. Seeing someone claiming small fires were started, or they saw a meteor land and it was a rock that was hot to the touch guarantees the story is 100% bogus.

A couple of years ago, I was backpacking in southern New Mexico

It was dark and I was sitting in front of my tent when I saw a large flaming object come overhead at a speed that appeared to be comparable to that of an aircraft at a few thousand feet.

Very large multi-colored flames were tailing behind it; I immediately thought it was an airliner on fire and about to go down

Only after it disappeared over the horizon did I realize that is was a meteor.

On another occasion, I was lying in a field in Germany during the Perseid shower and saw a meteor appear to come directly at me, get very bright, and explode with a very loud report.

You may be correct that bolides are cool when they hit the ground, but they certainly are not in the air