Additional Coverage:
Dazzling Meteor Streaks Across East Texas Sky, Followed by Loud Boom and Reported Meteorite Impact
HOUSTON, Texas – Residents across East Texas were startled Saturday, March 21, 2026, by the sight of a brilliant meteor blazing across the afternoon sky, an event capped by a resounding boom that rattled homes and sparked widespread curiosity. Federal space agency officials later confirmed the celestial visitor, providing details on its journey and impact.
The fireball illuminated the sky around 4:40 p.m. CDT, prompting numerous eyewitness reports of the dazzling display and the subsequent loud concussion.
According to officials, data indicates the object became visible approximately 49 miles above Stagecoach, located northwest of Houston. Traveling southeast at an estimated 35,000 miles per hour, the meteor disintegrated around 29 miles above Bammel, near Cypress Station.
Officials estimate the meteor’s initial mass at one ton and its diameter at three feet. The object’s breakup created a significant pressure wave in the atmosphere, which translated into the audible booms heard across the region.
The resulting fireball released an amount of energy equivalent to 26 tons of TNT. Officials also provided a preliminary map indicating potential meteorite landing areas.
The event comes less than a week after a similar bright meteor streaked across Ohio skies on March 17, with reports of visibility spanning multiple states including Delaware, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia.
Meteors typically streak through the atmosphere at tens of thousands of miles per hour, far exceeding the speed of sound. Whether a sonic boom is heard on the ground depends largely on the meteor’s size and altitude at which it fragments.
Doppler radar detected fragments of the meteorites produced between Willowbrook and Northgate Crossing. In a dramatic turn, a local Houston woman, Sherrie James, reported that what appears to be a meteorite crashed directly through the roof of her home. James shared photos of the possible meteorite, which she described as being roughly the size of her palm and contained within a plastic bag.