You don’t have much to worry about; these (meaning the West Coast Fireball, not the Russian one) are fairly routine. However they are going to get much more media attention and are much more likely to be posted on FR from now on, which inevitably will lead to the impression that there are suddenly a lot more of them.
The American Meteor Society has a site where the public can post their reports (which can then be used to estimate the orbit of the meteor).
Last night’s event (32 reports):
http://www.amsmeteors.org/fireball_event/2013/326
However just in 2013 so far, there have been 7 other events with more reports just over the US alone:
http://www.amsmeteors.org/members/fireball/browse_events/?year=2013&state=&num_report=32
And there were 25 such events in 2012:
http://www.amsmeteors.org/members/fireball/browse_events/?year=2012&state=&num_report=32
Don’t fret. The chances of your plane being hit by a meteor are probably about the same as being attacked by a shark in the Detroit River.
You don’t have much to worry about; these (meaning the West Coast Fireball, not the Russian one) are fairly routine. However they are going to get much more media attention and are much more likely to be posted on FR from now on, which inevitably will lead to the impression that there are suddenly a lot more of them.
Yep. Now every time someone sees a “shooting star” or “fireball” and captures it on video, uploads it to YouTube, it will be “BREAKING NEWS” on Fox, CNN, etc. and even here perhaps. People will say “Why all of a sudden are there all these meteors?” when these actually happen all the time, not the one in Russia per se, but even that type of event, while “rare” in over the course of a human lifetime, is not really all that rare on a cosmic scale.
And speaking of sharks, I am reminded of this: