Residents of northeast Ohio experienced a shock on the morning of Tuesday, March 17, 2026 when a sonic boom rattled houses throughout Medina County and the surrounding areas, according to a report from News 5 Cleveland. Many residents even witnessed a fireball accompanying the sound as it streaked across the sky.
Both the National Weather Service and NASA confirmed that a meteor caused both the light in the sky and the boom. Bill Cooke, a NASA spokesperson who discussed the incident with News 5 Cleveland’s reporter, stated the meteor was moving at about 45,000 mph when it flew across the Ohio sky. The spokesperson clarified that this speed is “slow for a meteor.”
Waking up to a meteor streaking across the sky or exploding overhead isn’t an everyday occurrence for, well, anyone. Meteors, like lava and quicksand, are a natural phenomena that most of us learn about via pop culture more than through direct experience. That’s why so many myths about space rocks continue to persist. It’s time to debunk some of the more stubborn of them once and for all.
Myth: Meteorites are hot when they land
Meteors look like fireballs when they traverse the sky. That’s because they essentially are. Meteors burn up when they enter the atmosphere, which is why space rocks can take the form of bright “shooting stars.”…