A mysterious loud boom startled people across Cleveland on Tuesday, leaving many worried and confused. Officials later said the sound was likely 'a result of a meteor,' according to the National Weather Service.
Some residents immediately feared the sound was an explosion, according to CBS affiliate WOIO. One person told the station that the boom shook their whole house. The sound was heard as far as New York and Pennsylvania, WOIO said.
The NWS office in Pittsburgh shared a video on social media of the meteor arcing across the sky. The station said the video was taken by an employee. WOIO meteorologist Jeff Tanchak said the boom occurred when the meteor broke the sound barrier but he said it's not clear when the object entered the atmosphere.
A meteor exploded Tuesday morning north of Cleveland over Lake Erie. According to The Washington Post, The American Meteor Society received hundreds reports of a visible meteor from the Eastern Shore of Maryland to Kentucky. It was also seen across Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and western New York state.
Tens of thousands of people across northern Ohio heard a loud boom and some even felt the ground shake. According to experts, this may have been the meteor's sonic boom or the sound of it exploding. A seismometer or earthquake-measuring instrument detected slight ground shaking at 8:56am local time in Lorain County, Ohio.
