Posted on 04/15/2010 8:44:12 AM PDT by MplsSteve
A meteor (as far as anyone knows) provided a brilliant and entertaining light show across the Upper Midwest Wednesday night.
Just after 10 p.m., 911 call centers began to light up across at least six states, including Minnesota, as a bright light flashed across the sky from west to east.
The National Weather Service confirmed countless anecdotal accounts of the meteor late Wednesday, reporting that "a fireball or very bright meteor was observed streaking across the sky. The fireball was seen over the northern sky, moving from west to east. Well before it reached the horizon, it broke up into smaller pieces and was lost from sight."
In Davenport, Iowa, Weather service meteorologist Mike Zenner said staff members "could see it from the office and saw the explosion as it came down. You could see the smoke trail over by Dubuque.
"The sonic boom was really loud, lasted at least 30 seconds. It looked like it was coming out of southern Minnesota, heading to the east or southeast."
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
There is a brief vide clip on this link. Please do not watch the entire clip - unless you're deeply interested in what Twin Cities weather will be like today.
Are there any Freepers out there who saw this? Comments or opinions - anyone?
Wow! Now thats a BFM!
WHY do people call 911 when they see a ‘bright streak’? WHAT is their emergency?
Call the radio station perhaps; but emergency services?
Exactly...
Looking at the video from Milwaukee, they may have thought it was an aircraft crashing
Because it’s been proven that 50% of the people in this country are idiots.
I believe it was closer to 52% about 18 months ago...
Have you seen this video? It was much more than a “bright streak”. Looked like a gigantic ball of fire.
To provide data on the extent of the view area?
A lot can be derived from the pattern of reporting, it might help emergency services arrive at a crash site earlier, by getting them headed in the general direction before the location is pinpointed.
Personal example, I knew with a fair degree of accuracy the epicenter of the Northridge quake before it was even reported.
An in-law called and let us know there had been a major quake, 10 seconds. I called several relatives in the area, maybe 10-15 seconds each, found that the phone system was down in a donut hole surrounding relatives that live a mile from the epicenter.
Just as the ‘quake was being reported, I already knew where emergency responders needed to focus. I’m sure they did too, but...
In a few minute we knew who was OK and who to worry about.
(Side note, their kid slept through the quake. In the top bunk. Go figure!)
Yeah, what looks like a crashing plane is no where near the emergency that cold french fires are.
I saw something that looked like a crashing plane when I was a kid. It was at dusk, and there was a fireball just like in the video. We ran and told our folks. Found out later that it was a meteor just like this, and it was 2 states away from us!
-here near Platteville, Wisconsin, it rattled the windows and indeed the sound lasted for at least thirty seconds—10:08 pm when I looked at my watch-—
The Meteor Men gotta head there to look for it. That show is so much fun.
Kitty Genovese
The next time I see a flaming ball of fire streak across the night sky, I’m gonna call the Police ASAP.
Maybe there will still be time to get those people out of that flaming airplane.
Yeah. No one on the ground has ever been injured by a plane crash.
No plane crash has ever started a fire, either.
I agree and they’ve found enough to buy some excellent equipment. Reminds me of the impact site I found when bird hunting but have not been able to find since.
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