CLEVELAND — Many News 5 viewers have been calling the station and posting on social media, asking, "Why was there no warning about the meteor?"
Dr. Ralph Harvey, a professor specializing in planetary science at Case Western Reserve University, told Clay LePard that meteors hit the Earth quite often — a couple times a day on average — but it's rare for one to travel over such a populated area.
"It was at a very high altitude when it hit the atmosphere," Harvey said. "This is obviously an object somewhere in the size between an engine block and a car that hit the earth's atmosphere heading from north to south and flew over our area."
Harvey said what made this meteor unusual was that it kept going.
"A lot of people had parking lot cameras and doorbell cameras to catch it," Harvey said, catching a sonic boom that could be heard for miles and shook quite a few homes.
He said the chances of it hitting something are pretty slim.
"At this moment in time, the people in that area are very lucky people. I hope everybody that goes out on a dog walk or strolling through the fields or the parking lot, I hope they're all keeping their eyes open for a rock that looks out of place," Harvey said. "Rocks can't handle that pressure very well, so it blew up and made this beautiful fireball."
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