Fireball streaking across sky alarmed witnesses - MSNewsNow.com - Jackson, MS
JACKSON, MS (WLBT) – A bizarre daytime occurrence had the phones ringing in WLBT's newsroom Sunday.
Viewers calling with wide spread reports of mysterious fireballs in the sky and loud booms baffled state agencies and eye witnesses alike.
"It didn't last but maybe three or four seconds, and it was gone," said Phoronia Coring.
She was driving north from Tylertown Sunday afternoon when something strange in the sky caught her eye.
"I looked sort of to the east of 55 and it was just this fire ball that was falling out of the sky and it made you think of a falling star expect during the day, and it was just bright red," said Coring.
The Madison resident said it was around 1:45 p.m. while in traffic on I-55 in Brookhaven when she saw it.
Then she said a smoke trail lingered in the sky for about 15 minutes.
"As soon as it disappeared I called my husband. I said 'Stanley you won't believe what I just saw'," said the shocked motorist.
And Coring was not alone.
WLBT received numerous calls of the sighting.
A motorcyclist even dialed the Warren County Sheriff's Department just to go on record.
Motorists in traffic on Lakeland Drive speculated about a crash site in Flowood.
Mississippi Emergency Management Agency Spokesman Jeff Rent said the agency received reports from Carroll, Stone and Jackson counties of a fire ball in the sky and a boom, with no indications of impact.
Jackson Municipal Airport Authority Spokesperson Bonnie Wilson said tower personnel at Jackson Evers International were told by two different pilots that they saw something shiny in the sky.
Airport investigations turned up nothing on the grounds or in the immediate vicinity.
Madison County Emergency Management Director Butch Hammock spoke with emergency directors across the state and gathered reports of either fireball sightings, hearing a boom or feeling the earth shake in Carroll, Forrest, Hancock and Marion counties.
Meteorologist Eric Law and the National Weather Service believe the varying events can be attributed to the Gamma Normids, a meteor show that runs from February 25th through March 22nd.
It peaked Saturday March 13th.
The news provided answers and relief for Coring.
"It was so bizarre. I had never seen anything like that before," added Coring.
Similar events were reported across Louisiana on March 8th.
The Gamma Normids Meteor Shower can produce one meteor per hour in the northern hemisphere.
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