(meteorobs) Light and sound event over North Eastern Pennsylvania 2011/04/16 17:30-18:00

MEM mstreman53 at yahoo.com
Thu Apr 21 16:20:10 EDT 2011


This report was over a week ago and only released yesterday so it is largely 
moot. Several people have come 

forward to report an unusual bright single flash and extended-rumbling, house 
shaking, "event" with NO lightening/thunder otherwise noted in the entire 
rainstorm.  While a power outage might have given me the wrong time of day and 
closer to the 8:30 to 9pm fireball reports over Maryland.  There were very long 
fireballs reported over Virginia and Maryland that evening so it is all 
interesting but unless someone comes forward with a skycam or satellite photo 
we'll likely never know. 


If it was lightening then it was as massive a bolt as has ever been seen to be 
reported from upward of 30 miles in all directions.  A 10 second-long fireball 
over Virgina doesn't fit meteor timelines per se.  It doesn't fit cleanly into 
any obvious category.  


I just reported what I experienced and having been struck by lightening multiple 
times and having a dozen near misses very up close-- I tend to think I am more 
informed regarding lightening and thunder phenomena better than the average 
observer.  In spite of what feedback I have received, lightening is low on my 
candidate of what it might have been. I have also been within 3 miles of ground 
zero when a meteorite producing bolide occurred so I have a frame of real-life 
experience to relate to. I don't know that it was a meteor!  I only tried to 
share what I had experienced.

Reported on the local News channel, we did have a possible mine "subsidence 
event"  which was about 30 miles away (near Cranberry? Hazelton,PA which may or 
may not have been in the time frame so the extended rumble felt by everyone 
could be another happenstance and the subsidence was in the process triggered by 
the heavy flooding and the flash was or was not related to either the storm or 
the reported fireballs over Maryland and Virginia. There have been reported 
bright flashes prior to earthquakes--some attribute to a piezo-electric effect.

So my observation is just once of several I am aware of regarding this event--no 
matter how many opinions otherwise-- I  agree, that it is very improbable to 
have a very low (under 5 mile) disruption given such a short flash-to-bang 
time.  No single event covers all the characteristics.  Had I not had several 
confirmations from widely spread observers I too might have dismissed it as a 
nearby lightening strike myself.

The proof is in someone finding direct evidence from already captured data or 
brings forward a piece of space junk or black melted rocky thingy in the middle 
of coal country central--yeah right!  If it were the Trifecta of a meteor, a 
lightening bolt, and a mine subsidence --all at once-- there has to be a lottery 
message in there somewhere!

I rasied the issue in case sometime in the future, someone else found another 
piece of a puzzle that would help solve yet something else.  I've moved 
on--somethings just can't be forced to fit inside the box.  I can live with it.

Elton


----- Original Message ----
> From: MEM <mstreman53 at yahoo.com>
> To: MetObs <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
> Sent: Sat, April 16, 2011 9:56:17 PM
> Subject: (meteorobs) Light and sound event over North Eastern Pennsylvania 
>2011/04/16 17:30-18:00
Light and sound event over North Eastern Pennsylvania 2011/04/16  17:30-18:00

Over NE Pennsylvania between 17:30 and 18:00 EDT (Local)  there was a flash and 
bang of huge proportions  Vic. Long  Pond, PA  This was atypical for just 
lightening or thunder.

The  light was  so intense I saw it through my closed eyelids indirectly 
reflected off the  walls inside walls.  4-5  seconds  later "(flash-to-bang) was 
a huge 

rumbling, echoing, and persisting   report-- very unlike a normal  lightening 
and thunder  event.  Given we  were in the midst of an  intense rain storm  
which otherwise had no  thunder and lightening, I  held off on  making a report. 
However in a  conversation with a  friend  who was 25-30 miles away, he 
mentioned a huge flash and very loud  lingering boom also. I am therefore making 
a non-directional report it  should a  fireball  have fallen  during a rainstorm 
and might  other-wise go unnoticed.

Elton



More information about the Meteorobs mailing list