A loud boom that was heard across parts of Pennsylvania and Ohio on Tuesday morning, shaking buildings in the Cleveland area, was apparently a meteor, weather forecasters said.
Videos posted on social media, including by the National Weather Service, showed a fiery streak flashing across the blue sky just before 9 a.m.
Douglas Kahn, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Cleveland, said the service’s geostationary lightning mapper had tracked a big flash that coincided with a boom. Shaking was felt at his office south of Cleveland, as well as around the Lake Erie region, he said in an interview.
“A sonic boom was heard across much of the area,” he said.
Asked whether it was a meteor, he said: “Based off the satellite data, that is our best guess right now.”
The Weather Service office in Pittsburgh also said it was receiving reports from across western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio of a loud boom and a fireball in the sky. “Our satellite data suggest it was possibly a meteor entering the atmosphere,” it said.
Law enforcement authorities said they had been swamped with calls about what sounded like an explosion.
The police department in Avon, Ohio, about 20 miles west of Cleveland, said on social media that it had received reports about the “explosion that was heard across the city. We do not know the source at this time.”
Sgt. Wilfredo Diaz, a spokesman for Cleveland Police, said that residents were calling to ask what was happening but that no one had reported damage or injuries.
Christine Hauser is a Times reporter who writes breaking news stories, features and explainers.
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