7-Ton Meteor Shakes Cleveland: NASA Confirms Sonic Boom and Fireball Over Ohio Skies

On Tuesday, March 17, 2026, a loud noise woke people up all over Northeast Ohio. Many people thought at first that it was an explosion on the ground. NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office has since confirmed that the disturbance was caused by a meteor about six feet wide that entered Earth's atmosphere at an incredible 45,000 mph.

The space rock, weighing an estimated seven tons, became visible around 8:56 a.m. EDT, creating a rare daytime fireball that was reported by witnesses in over ten states, including Pennsylvania, New York, and as far west as Wisconsin. This celestial event was so powerful that it was captured not only by doorbell cameras but also by the GOES-19 satellite from geostationary orbit.

Where did the Ohio Meteor Travel?

According to Bill Cooke, lead of NASA’s Meteoroid Environments Office, the object’s journey began high above the Earth before it met its dramatic end over the Midwest. The trajectory data reveal a specific path that explains why the boom was so widespread:

• First Appearance: The meteor became luminous at an altitude of 50 miles above Lake Erie, just off the coast of Lorain, Ohio.

• Velocity: It maintained a speed of 45,000 mph, considered "slow" for a meteor but fast enough to compress the air in front of it violently.

• Path of Flight: It traveled 34 miles southeast through the upper atmosphere.

• The Breakup: The asteroid fragmented roughly 30 miles above Valley City, North of Medina.

The fragmentation released energy equivalent to 250 tons of TNT, creating the pressure wave that rattled windows and shook homes from Cleveland to Pittsburgh

Meteor vs. Meteorite: What’s the Difference?

While most of the seven-ton mass vaporized during its high-speed descent, experts believe fragments survived the fire phase.

NASA spokesperson Bill Cooke noted that while dark flight (the phase after the glow ends) makes tracking difficult, small meteorites likely landed in rural areas of Medina County. The National Weather Service (NWS) in Cleveland utilized the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) to confirm the flash was not a weather event but a bolide, an exceptionally bright meteor that explodes in the atmosphere.

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The event reminds us that our solar system is always changing. Scientists have learned a lot from the sonic boom about how small asteroids interact with our thick atmosphere, even though no damage or injuries were reported. The American Meteor Society asks people in the area to report any strange, burned-looking rocks they find to help them find possible meteorites.