Last night a large fireball blazed over Lake Erie

A special report by Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Society

Large fireball over Lake Erie

I just posted 342 reports about a large fireball – an exceptionally bright meteor – that occurred over North America near the US-Canada border. It happened around 7 p.m. EDT (23 UTC) on the evening of October 21, 2024. And the American Meteor Society has received reports! The witnesses range from North Carolina west to Kentucky, north to Michigan and east to New York.

Fireballs can occur very bright, streaking across a dark night sky. And they almost always come unexpectedly. The computer-generated trajectory ran from west to east over Lake Erie, the fourth-largest lake in terms of surface area of ​​North America's five Great Lakes (and the eleventh-largest lake in the world). The flight path ended just off the coast of Erie, Pennsylvania.

There's a reason fireballs are visible from such a large area. That is, they appear at a high altitude of 50 miles (80 km). The Taurid meteor shower is currently active and above the horizon at this time of night. But this fireball was moving in one direction towards the Taurides. This event was most likely a random meteorite impact that was not associated with any known meteor shower.

There have been a lot of fireballs lately. However, this is one of the biggest events in recent times. If you have witnessed this or any other fireball, we encourage you to share your experience by filling out the Report Fireball form.

Watch the fireball from October 21st in the video

The American Meteor Society has already received numerous images and videos of the Oct. 21 fireball. Further information can be found on this page.

Ryan Connor of North Royalton, Ohio, captured the fireball with two cameras.

John Oelschlager recorded this video from West Mifflin, Pennsylvania.

Video taken from Tillsonburg, Canada.

Brad Hague also captured the fireball from Toronto, Canada.

Walter White of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was also surprised by the fireball.

Conclusion: Witnesses described a large fireball over Lake Erie on October 21st. The American Meteor Society had about 350 reports as of this writing. Thousands must have seen it!

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