Fireball? Meteor? Eyewitnesses in Southeast report ball of fire in sky, shaking
The Brief
Officials across the Southeast are investigating reports of a "fireball" seen in the sky, with over 100 sightings reported to the American Meteor Society from Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee.
The National Weather Service received reports of shaking and rumbling, but no seismic activity indicating an earthquake
Satellite imagery showed a possible smoke trail stretching from Tennessee into northern Georgia.
Officials across the Southeast are investigating reports of a "fireball" seen in the sky, with over 100 sightings reported to the American Meteor Society. The event, which occurred around midday, has sparked interest and concern among residents and authorities.
"This was the middle of the day, and it just came out of nowhere," one fireball report on the American Meteor Society read from Perry, Georgia.
What we know
On Thursday afternoon, a bright fireball shot across the Southeast sky, startling many who witnessed or felt it. Between 12:15 and 12:30 p.m. ET, more than 100 reports of a possible fireball were submitted to the American Meteor Society website from Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee.
These reports are pending verification by the AMS. The National Weather Service received numerous reports of shaking and rumbling from residents across the area, although seismic activity did not indicate an earthquake.
What they're saying
"This was the middle of the day, and it just came out of nowhere," one fireball report on the American Meteor Society read from Perry, Georgia. An official in Rockdale County, Georgia shared a video of what appeared to be a streak of fire falling from the sky, which officials believe may be a meteor or other space debris.
The National Weather Service in Charleston reported that its satellite-based lightning detection showed a streak in the sky over the NC/VA border, close to Gasburg, Virginia.
Satellite imagery also indicated a possible smoke trail around noon stretching from Tennessee into northern Georgia. WHNS-TV reports that officials in Anderson County, South Carolina are searching for a possible crash site in the Upstate region, with reports made in Spartanburg County, Greenville County and Anderson County.
What we don't know
The exact nature of the falling object and where it landed remains unknown at this time. Authorities continue to investigate the incident to determine the cause and impact of the fireball sighting.
NASA has not reported any recent activity on its fireball meteor tracker.
What you can do
If you have additional information, pictures, or video, email newstipsatlanta@fox.com.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
Symptoms of climate change such as extreme heat can impact insect activity
Climate change symptoms like rising temperatures in Augusta are affecting gnat and other insect activity. 'Changing Climate can affect them in some ways,' said Elmer Gray, entomologist, at the University of Georgia. 'One thing that's going to help them is staying warm at night. Wednesday night I don't know if it got below 77 degrees. We know that insects like warmer temperatures. Warmer temperatures mean a longer growing season.' Gray added, 'They may grow longer into the fall, if it stays warmer into October. So they'll have more chances to create more generations in a life cycle.' Gray said insects need humidity. 'We've had so much rain throughout the end of spring and into the beginning of summer,' said Gray. 'The temperatures have warmed up, so everything is starting to grow faster. They completed their life cycle quicker. When we have lots of moisture in the environment, whether it's in the soil, standing water collecting in containers, all of these things provide habitats that increase the productivity of a wide range of insects.' 'The term gnat is kind of interesting,' said Gray. 'Gnat is a general term for a small fly. So, what you're calling a gnat in Augusta is going to be a different insect than what they call a gnat in Pennsylvania. Gnat is a general term, typically for insects that swarm about our faces. Black flies and other gnats are attracted to the carbon dioxide in our breath.' Gray added, 'It tells them there's an animal there. Then they're going to get closer and try to pick up the final cues as to whether you're the kind of animal that they like to feed on.' 'As far as the eye gnats they're attracted to the moist membranes,' he said. 'So your eyes are where they're drawn to. For other animals, they'll get around the genitals and other places. When we say Diptera or fly that means insects that have two wings. A lot of our common insects that we deal with are a type of fly.' Different types of flies according to Gray: House flies Black flies Blow flies Mosquitoes 'So right now is peak season,' said Gray. 'Now, if it stops raining and everything starts drying up, if we go into drought conditions, the insects suffer. It's very common for the insect populations to kind of go down in the heat of the summer. If you think it's hot outside for us, well, it's hot outside for them too. Insects are very susceptible to drying out.' 'It tends to be drier from August to September,' said Gray. 'If we have a hurricane that could mean a lot of flooding. Then things start getting wet again.' 'For mosquitoes, you want to be very diligent about eliminating standing water around your homes and in your neighborhood and communities,' he said. ' Richmond County has a good mosquito control program down there in Augusta. If people are having problems with mosquitoes, they should reach out to the Richmond County Public Health to let them know what's going on.' Tips for homeowners according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Empty or throw out any items that hold water like tires, buckets, planters, toys, pools, birdbaths, flower pot saucers, or trash containers. Ensure screens are secure, free of tears, and properly installed to keep insects out while allowing fresh air in. When sleeping outdoors or in areas with poor screening, use a mosquito bed net. Wear loose-fitting, long-sleeved shirts and pants. 'I'm a homeowner,' said Gray. 'It's easy to have a bucket for picking up sticks in the yard, or the old boat that you use once in a while. So you really need to be diligent about eliminating standing water. Most of the biting flies are attracted to darker colors. So light colored, loose fitting clothing will help. If you're planning on going to a ball game or going to watch fireworks on the Fourth of July you might want to apply an EPA approved repellent to your exposed skin.' Gray said there's a lot of misinformation surrounding natural ways to get rid of pests. "The plants that have oils that can repel insects have to be crushed and processed," said Gray. "So the Citronella plant is not good. There have been studies conducted that show mosquitoes will actually land on it. Yes, citronella oil can repel mosquitoes to some degree. Oil of lemon eucalyptus is one thing that works. T's naturally derived and very effective." This reporting content is supported by a partnership with several funders and Journalism Funding Partners. Erica Van Buren is the climate change reporter for The Augusta Chronicle, part of the USA TODAY Network. Connect with her at EVanBuren@ or on X: @EricaVanBuren32. This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Impacts of extreme heat may mean more insect, pests activity
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Yahoo
Rare daytime fireball bright enough to be seen from orbit may have punched a hole in a house in Georgia
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A large meteor that triggered a spectacular daytime fireball over the southeastern U.S. may have survived its dramatic passage through Earth's atmosphere to punch through the roof of a Georgia home. The fireball was spotted over the southeastern U.S. at 12:25 EDT on Friday, (1625 GMT), visibly flaring as the extreme heat of atmospheric friction overwhelmed the ancient chunk of solar system debris. Its descent was bright enough to be seen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAAs) GOES-19 Earth observation satellite, using an instrument designed to map flashes of lightning from orbit. "Daylight fireballs are rare in that it takes a large object (larger than a beachball compared to your normal pea-sized meteor) to be bright enough to be seen during the day," said Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Association in an email to "We probably only average one per month worldwide, so perhaps one out of every 3,000 reports occurs during the day." The meteor was first spotted 48 miles (77 kilometers) above the town of Oxford, Georgia travelling at around 30,000 mph (48,000 km/h), according to NASA Meteoroid Environment Office lead Bill Cooke, via CBS News. Lunsford noted that the fireball may have been associated with the daylight beta Taurid shower, which peaks in late June as Earth passes through the trail of cosmic debris shed by the ancient solar system comet 2P/Encke. Footage of the event led many to speculate that fragments of the meteor may have survived its bruising passage through Earth's atmosphere. The hours that followed saw photos circulate online purporting to show the damage that a fragment of the meteorite caused when it smashed through the roof of a home in Henry County, Georgia. "Being much larger than your average meteor also means that it has a better chance of producing fragments on the ground," explained Lunsford "We look for reports of sound such as thunder or sonic booms to have confidence that fragments of the original fireball survived down to the lower atmosphere and perhaps all the way to the ground. Therefore the photograph of the hole in the roof is probably associated with this fireball." If verified, the Georgia meteorite certainly wouldn't represent the first time that a daylight beta Daylight Taurid left a mark on our planet. Lunsford noted that a particularly large meteor that some scientists believe to be associated with the annual shower detonated in a powerful airburst 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) over Russian Siberia in June 1908. The force of the explosion sparked massive forest fires and flattened roughly 80 million trees in what has since become known as the 'Tunguska Event'. Editor's Note: If you capture a photo or video footage of a meteor and want to share it with readers, then please send it, along with your name, comments, and details of your experience to spacephotos@
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Yahoo
Deep cuts to hurricane data could leave forecasters in the dark
Forecasters are set to lose some of their sharpest eyes in the sky just a few months before Atlantic hurricane season peaks when the Department of Defense halts a key source of satellite data over cybersecurity concerns. The data comes from microwave sensors attached to three aging polar-orbiting satellites operated for both military and civilian purposes. Data from the sensors is critical to hurricane forecasters because it allows them to peer through layers of clouds and into the center of a storm, where rain and thunderstorms develop, even at night. The sensors don't rely on visible light. Losing the data — at a time when the National Weather Service is releasing fewer weather balloons and the agency is short on meteorologists because of budget cuts — will make it more likely that forecasters miss key developments in a hurricane, several hurricane experts said. Those changes help meteorologists determine what level of threat a storm may pose and therefore how emergency managers ought to prepare. Microwave data offers some of the earliest indications that sustained winds are strengthening inside a storm. 'It's really the instrument that allows us to look under the hood. It's definitely a significant loss. There's no doubt at all hurricane forecasts will be degraded because of this,' said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher and senior research associate at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. 'They're able to detect when an eye wall forms in a tropical storm and if it's intensifying — or rapidly intensifying.' Researchers think rapid intensification is becoming more likely in tropical storms as the oceans warm as a result of human-caused climate change. The three satellites are operated for both military and civilian purposes through the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, a joint effort of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Defense. While hurricane experts said they were concerned about losing the tool, Kim Doster, NOAA's communications director, downplayed the decision's effect on hurricane forecasting by the National Weather Service. In an email, Doster said the military's microwave data 'is a single dataset in a robust suite of hurricane forecasting and modeling tools in the NWS portfolio.' Doster said these models include data from geostationary satellites — a different system that constantly observes Earth from about 22,300 miles away and offers a vantage point that appears fixed because the satellites synchronize with Earth's rotation. They also ingest measurements from Hurricane Hunter aircraft missions, buoys, weather balloons, land-based radar and from other polar-orbiting satellites, including NOAA's Joint Polar Satellite System, which she said provides 'the richest, most accurate satellite weather observations available.' A U.S. Space Force official said the satellites and their instruments in question remain functional and that the data will be sent directly to weather satellite readout terminals across the DOD. The Navy's Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center made the decision to stop processing that data and sharing it publicly, the official said. The Navy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Earlier this week, a division of the Navy notified researchers that it would cease to process and share the data on or before June 30, and some researchers received an email from the Navy's Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center, saying that its data storage and sharing program relied on a processing station that was using an 'end-of-life' operating system with vulnerabilities. 'The operating system cannot be upgraded, poses a cybersecurity concern, and introduces risk to DoD networks,' the email, which was reviewed by NBC News, said. The move will cut the amount of microwave data available to forecasters in half, McNoldy estimated. This microwave data is also used by snow and ice scientists to track the extent of polar sea ice, which helps scientists understand long-term climate trends. Sea ice forms from frozen ocean water. It grows in coverage during winter months and typically melts during warmer times of the year. Sea ice reflects sunlight back into space, which cools the planet. That makes it an important metric to track over time. The extent of summer Arctic sea ice is trending lower because of global warming. Walt Meier, a senior research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, said his program learned of the Navy's decision earlier this week. Meier said the satellites and sensors are about 16 years old. Researchers have been preparing for them to eventually fail, but they weren't expecting the military to pull the plug on data with little warning, he said. Meier said the National Snow and Ice Data Center has relied on the military satellites for data on sea ice coverage since 1987, but will adapt its systems to use similar microwave data from a Japanese satellite, called AMSR-2, instead. 'It certainly could be a few weeks before we get that data into our system,' Meier said. 'I don't think it's going to undermine our sea ice climate data record in terms of confidence in it, but it's going to be more challenging.' The polar-orbiting satellites that are part of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program provide intermittent coverage of hurricane-prone areas. The satellites typically zip around the globe in a north-south orientation every 90-100 minutes in a relatively low orbit, Meier said. The microwave sensors scan across a narrow swath of the earth, which Meier estimated at roughly 1,500 miles. As the Earth rotates, these polar-orbiting satellites can capture imagery that helps researchers determine the structure and potential intensity of a storm, if it happens to be in their path. 'It's often just by luck, you'll get a really nice pass over a hurricane,' McNoldy said, adding that the change will reduce the geographic area covered by microwave scans and the frequency of scans of a particular storm. Andy Hazelton, a hurricane modeler and associate scientist with the University of Miami Cooperative Institute for Marine & Atmospheric Studies, said the microwave data is used in some hurricane models and also by forecasters who can access near real-time visualizations of the data. Hazelton said forecasters are always looking for visual signatures in microwave data that often provide the first evidence a storm is rapidly intensifying and building strength. The National Hurricane Center defines rapid intensification as a 35-mph or higher increase in sustained winds inside a tropical storm within 24 hours. Losing the microwave data is particularly important now because in recent years, scientists have observed an increase in rapid intensification, a trend likely fueled in part by climate change as ocean waters warm. A 2023 study published the journal Scientific Reports found that tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean were about 29% more likely to undergo rapid intensification from 2001 to 2020, compared to 1971 to 1990. Last year, Hurricane Milton strengthened from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in just 36 hours. Some of that increase took place overnight, when other satellite instruments offer less information. The trend is particularly dangerous when a storm, like Hurricane Idalia, intensifies just before striking the coast. 'We've certainly seen in recent years many cases of rapid intensification ahead of landfall. That's the kind of thing you really don't want to miss,' McNoldy said, adding that microwave data is 'excellent at giving the important extra 12 hours of lead time to see the inner core changes happening.' Brian LaMarre, the former meteorologist-in-charge at the National Weather Service's weather forecasting station in Tampa Bay, said the data is also useful for predicting flood impacts as a hurricane comes ashore. 'That scan can help predict where the heavier precipitation and rainfall rates can be,' LaMarre said. 'This data is critically important to public safety.' Hurricane season begins June 1 and ends Nov. 30. It typically starts to peak in late summer and early fall. NOAA forecasters have predicted a more busy 2025 hurricane season than typical, with six to 10 hurricanes. This article was originally published on
