Valentine’s Day fireball streaks over Northeastern US

- 8 Comments - In: ,

The American Meteor Society has received nearly 110 reports of a bright fireball on Sunday, February 14th, 2016. It was observed over a large portion of the Northeastern US. The fireball was seen primarily from Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New York but witnesses from Delaware, Massachusetts, Virginia, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, West Virginia and Ontario (Canada) also reported seeing this fireball. This event occurred near 04:30am ET (09:30 Universal Time).

If you saw this fireball, please report it here.
If you have a video of this fireball, please share it on your free AMS account or contact us using this form.
press contact.

Below is a video from ©Bill Conklin who caught the fireball over Dover, DE.

Below is the heat map of the location of the witnesses and the estimated ground trajectory of this event.

583-heat
AMS Event #583-2016 – Heat map of the witnesses and estimated ground trajectory

The AMS online member Swasing Kate caught the reflection of the fireball on a parking lot.

For more information about fireballs, read our FAQ.

Tags:

8 comments

  • Jeffrey 9 years ago

    My mom an I were outside about 4 something in the morning we saw a fireball to the east an it had a long tail too. We live in Walnutport PA it was pretty low in the atmosphere as to other ones I have seen before, my mom saw my face light up real bright cause I was facing it an she looked to see it also. It was the brightest an biggest we’ve seen to date

    Reply to Jeffrey
  • Bryan 9 years ago

    I was lying in bed after being up from using the bathroom. It was about 4:35am on Valentine’s Day. I was trying to doze off when my bedroom was lit up by the whitest, brightest light I have ever witnessed. It was a brilliant larger flash followed by a shorter bright flash. I thought it was lightening but it was MUCH brighter and definitely more white. It was as if someone were outside my house with one of those roadside construction work lights flashing it on and off. I waited (and waited) for the thunder, but nothing. It was definitely a minute (maybe longer) when I heard, and FELT, the muffled “boom”. My wife was awake at this point and said “What was that?”. I believed at the time that SOMETHING hit the earth. I though I was crazy until my friend found this online.

    Reply to Bryan
  • Chuck 9 years ago

    Saw a similar one (was brighter and a little longer) this evening, Feb 16th, 2016 at approx 7:13PM in Newport, Delaware. Was a brilliant green and at first I thought it was a low flying airplane buzzing the New Castle County Airport!

    Reply to Chuck
    • Gene 9 years ago

      Chuck – you think that was a meteor? saw it in northern VA at travelling east to west about 7:12pm on 2/16/16… thanks for the reply.

      Reply to Gene
  • R. Stephen McCabe, PE 9 years ago

    I witnessed a meteorite on February 16th at approx 7:15 pm while driving. I was travelling south on Delaware Route 1 between the Town of Frederica and Milford in Kent County. The meteorite flashed in the night sky at my 10 O’clock then streaked a bright white tail from east to west (perpendicular) across the center of Route 1, travelling toward my 2 O’clock, then flashed white and split into streaking parts before burning out and glowing red. Was travelling faster than an aircraft. Seemed close but it is very hard to judge distance at night and looking against a dark sky. But I definitely saw it break and could see the parts glow red after it broke because it stopped streaking bright white. It seemed on a downward path toward the ground but disappeared into the darkness. Could have landed miles away or tens of miles. Hard to judge the distance at night.

    Reply to R.
  • Roseann 9 years ago

    2/14/16 4;30 am My dog woke me up to go out and when I opened the front door I saw the brightest blue light illuminate the entire sky. I had to close my eyes. It was a crystal blue flash. I live in Bayside Queens NYC I was so curious as to what it was. I never witnessed any thing like this ever

    Reply to Roseann

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *