Meteor Fragment Damages Houston Home Roof

A meteor streaked across the skies over Houston, Texas, on Saturday afternoon, producing a bright fireball and sonic booms that echoed through the area before fragmenting into pieces that scattered across northern suburbs. The event, which occurred around 4:40 p.m. local time, involved a space rock estimated to weigh about a ton and measure three feet in diameter, according to NASA officials.

Witnesses across the Houston metropolitan area reported seeing a vivid streak of light followed by a thunderous clap, with some describing a flash bright enough to mimic lightning. The American Meteor Society received more than 150 accounts of the sighting, classifying it as a fireball due to its exceptional brightness. NASA data showed the meteor becoming visible at an altitude of 49 miles above Stagecoach, northwest of Houston, as it hurtled southeast at 35,000 miles per hour. It disintegrated 29 miles above Bammel, an unincorporated community north of downtown, releasing energy equivalent to 26 tons of TNT and generating pressure waves that caused the audible booms.

Fragments from the meteor likely fell over a swath of land between the Willowbrook neighborhood and Northgate Crossing, as...