Meteor Likely Cause of Bright Flash in Florida Night Sky

Published: 4/2/2019, 2:53:51 PM EDT

Meteor Likely Cause of Bright Flash in Florida Night Sky — An image of a meteor seen across the Florida night sky on March 30, 2019. (Screenshot/CNN Video)

ERIDU, Fla.—The National Weather Service says a bright flash across the Florida night sky over the weekend was likely a falling meteor.

News outlets report people in southern Georgia and the Big Bend area of northern Florida reported seeing a flash shortly before midnight on March 30.

The National Weather Service in Charleston confirmed a mapping tool “detected the released light from the suspected fireball” over a spot about 35 miles east of Tallahassee just before midnight.

The Tallahassee office released a loop in which the meteor briefly blinks as a purple dot. It’s unclear where the meteor landed.

"Meteors coming into the Earth's atmosphere happen fairly often but we don't always get to see them," said CNN meteorologist Haley Brink. "Nowadays we have so many satellites in space and cameras on the ground that these events are becoming more and more visible to the general public."

Saturday’s flash followed meteor sightings across the southeast early Friday. The American Meteor Society says more than 150 reports were recorded in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

People across north Florida shared their videos of the meteor on social media. Eric Shultz, a Facebook user shared a video he captured on his home's doorbell camera.

"Caught some strange light falling from the sky up by Youngstown tonight!" Eric posted.

Jeffrey Cardona, a singer, photographer, and videographer from Jacksonville shared a video on Twitter. "Can somebody explain this?"

"Tonight I was out on my way home and I saw something pretty crazy," said a YouTube user in Gainesville. "Luckily, my dash cam caught it."

Gainesville's video has been watched 121,940 times and in comments, many people shared their sightings of the meteor.

"I’m in Lake County and it caught my attention even in my peripheral vision because it was about as bright as a transformer going off in the distance. Definitely the brightest meteor fireball I’ve ever seen. Lasted long enough for me to look to my side and still catch at least 2.5 to 3 seconds of it," said Keith Whitmore in response to Gainesville's video.

Twitter handle @tbluegator shared a video of the flash. "I didn't catch the Florida fireball directly, but my cameras did catch the flash meteor," he said.

A Twitter user, Domenico Calia shared a video from the Valdosta Regional Airport ATC tower. He said, "A very bright meteor was spotted over north Florida from the Valdosta Regional Airport ATC tower on March 30, 2019."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.