Mystery ‘Meteorite’ Falls Out of Night Sky, Crashes in Texas

A meteor reportedly blazed its way across the sky in South Texas before crashing in an unknown area Wednesday night. Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra confirmed that Houston Air Traffic Control received “reports from two aircrafts that they saw a meteorite west of McAllen.” Where the exact point of impact is, Guerra said, was unknown. There were no reports of any damage or injuries but residents in the area reported that their houses “shook in a violent manner.” According to local CBS anchor Sydney Hernández, the Mission Police Department were being “inundated with calls from residents who heard and felt the boom,” however officials remain cautious over what to call it, saying it was unclear what caused the noise. The National Weather Service commented on the reports “of a possible meteorite” west of McAllen, saying that while there was no official confirmation yet, a picture from a Geostationary Lightning Mapper, which measures lightning as observed from space, detected a signal at 5:23 p.m.—the same time the meteor was in the sky—but confirmed there “were no storms around.” Police Chief Cesar Torres confirmed over 100 calls came in over the course of the explosion, while hundreds more have been reported in neighboring cities. Meteorites are only called as such if they make impact with the ground, otherwise they are known as meteors.