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A Meteor Exploding near Texas Panhandle Caught on Patrol Car Dash Camera

 

On Sunday, a meteor crashed through the atmosphere south of the Texas Panhandle, and was caught on patrol car dash camera.

A large number of people from four states in the HPPR listening area—Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Kansas—called the American Meteor Society (AMS) to inform about the strange explosion that happened in the sky.

According to The Amarillo Globe News, a member of Snyder Volunteer Fire Department in Texas said he saw a bright light and heard a thunder sound.

“You could see a flash, like if an electrical transformer flashes at night, up to our northwest, but it was cloudy here — kinda rainy — so we didn’t actually see any kind of fireball or anything,” said Deputy Fire Marshal Nathan Hines who was working a wreck in the area.

Hines said he could see the bright light in the sky despite the overcast skies and city lights.

The department started getting calls from the public at about 9 p.m. who were telling about an unknown explosion. The department then used Facebook to inform public about the situation.

“Several reports of possible explosion just heard throughout most of town,” the department wrote on Facebook.

“Crews and officials are looking for the source.”

AMS received a total of 31 calls from Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Kansas on Sunday night.

An observer said he saw an explosion with the meteor having light yellow and white color, about 90 miles away from Lubbock in Jayton. According to him, the explosion lit up the sky.

A meteor is actually a rock floating in space that hits the atmosphere at a high rate of speed.

“A lot of people think it’s something hitting the ground,” says Mike Hankey, AMS operation manager.

“Actually like 10 miles up into the atmosphere creates that sonic effect that’s like a rumbling sound or an exploding sound.”

According to Hines, doors and windows of many home were rattled as the fireball moved in.

“It was pretty bright,” he said.