Meteor seen across wide swath of Pacific Northwest

The Associated Press

SPOKANE, Wash. A meteor streaked through the sky over the Pacific Northwest and apparently landed in Eastern Washington early Tuesday.

A Horizon Airlines pilot reported seeing the meteorite hit earth with a flash and a burst of light near State Route 26 and the Lind-Hatton Road in the southeast corner of Adams County about 5:45 a.m. PST, said Mike Fergus, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman in Seattle.

Sheriff's dispatchers said they had no reports of damage, injury or a meteor landing in the area, about 175 miles east-southeast of Seattle and 90 miles southwest of Spokane. Washington State Patrol Lt. Robert D. Kerwin said there was no indication of a traffic disruption.

Fergus said he did not have the pilot's flight number, point of origin, destination or altitude at the time of the sighting.

A number of pilots reported seeing the meteor streaking through the sky from Boise, Idaho, into Washington state, an FAA duty officer said without giving his name.

Television stations in Spokane reported getting viewer calls from across Washington state and north Idaho, parts of Oregon and southeastern British Columbia, starting about 5:30 a.m.

The callers said it resembled summer lightning, a rocket, a satellite or an exploding transformer. A viewer from Walla Walla, about 55 miles south-southeast of the reported crash site, said she heard a sonic boom and felt a shock wave not long after seeing the streaking meteor.

I wonder if it has anything to do with this story.