(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
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