Officials have clarified the mystery surrounding a sudden explosion that perplexed worried locals and was seen over South Texas. The explosion was a meteorite strike, they have said.
At a news conference on Thursday, Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra declared, “We believe we’ve solved the mystery of the loud explosion.”
On Wednesday afternoon, many locals in the Lower Rio Grande Valley close to the city of Mission reported hearing a resounding explosion.
According to Mission Police Chief Cesar Torres, authorities believe a meteorite struck the city at around 5:28 p.m. and caused a “large explosion or a boom within the city.”
Guerra stated, citing information he obtained from the FBI, that two pilots operating near Houston reported seeing what appeared to be a meteorite.
Guerra wanted to reassure those who were worried after several objects over US airspace were shot down recently, even though meteorite strikes are not unusual.
Guerra said, “It goes without saying that with all these incidents so close together, you can imagine what our constituents’ and citizens’ fears were.
The apparent meteorite was discovered by a satellite system meant to measure lightning strikes, according to the National Weather Service in Brownsville, Texas. No storms developed in the
There's been reports of a possible meteorite this evening west of McAllen. One of the satellite tools we use is the Geostationary Lightning Mapper & it measures lightning as observed from space. GLM detected a signal at 523 PM with no storms around. No official confirmation yet. pic.twitter.com/1NKRZTZU9C
— NWS Brownsville (@NWSBrownsville) February 16, 2023
“It can frighten our residents, and we want to make sure that we give as much information to our residents to help them feel safe and secure here in our local community,” said US Rep. Mónica de la Cruz, who represents the area.
Earlier this month, US military fighter jets shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon over the Atlantic Ocean off the Eastern Seaboard, defense officials said. Many Americans were in awe as they tracked the balloon from Montana all the way to the Carolinas.
Several days later, a US fighter jet shot down another airborne object over Lake Huron, the Pentagon said. It followed the downing of an unidentified object over northern Canada, one day after an object had been shot down over Alaskan airspace by a US F-22.
