Weather service: Loud boom likely a meteor
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A meteor was the likely cause of booms and flashes reported on Friday night in central Indiana.
Lightning detection maps for the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University and for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed a blip at 8:46 p.m. Friday northeast of the Lafayette area.
Matthew Eckhoff, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service at Indianapolis, says they believe the blip represented a meteor. The area was cloudy at the time with no thunderstorms that might have produced lighting, he said.
Based on the satellite image of the blip from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the meteor would have been detected northeast of Delphi. That’s northwest of Indianapolis about halfway between Lafayette and Logansport.
The report came as the annual Lyrid meteor showers are once again visible over central Indiana. Storm Track 8’s Ryan Morse, who also believes Friday night’s boom was a meteor, reported Wednesday on the upcoming Lyrid meteor shower.
Jennifer Perkins of Pittsboro was outside her house in the Jefferson Park neighborhood. She was teaching her daughter Hadley to ride a bicycle, and taking video to share with the girl’s grandmother. That’s when Perkins captured a flash in the background. About a minute later, making another video, Perkins captured the sound.
The American Meteor Society by 11:30 p.m. Friday had received Indiana reports of the fireball in Albany, Bloomingdale, Covington, Fishers, Indianapolis, Lafayette and South Bend. Fireball reports also came in from Danville and Quincy, Illinois; and Charlotte, Kalamazoo and Mattawan, Michigan.
The Hamilton County, Indiana, Emergency Management Agency reported pilots in Kentucky saw a meteor to the north.
