The energy blast from the meteor that exploded in the atmosphere on New Year's Day was equivalent to 27 tons of TNT, officials said.
The National Weather Service in Pittsburgh initially suggested that the most likely explanation was a meteorite explosion.
In a post on Monday, the meteorite watch said a nearby station registered the blast wave from the meteorite as it broke apart, causing sonic booms.
The estimate of the energy released was made using the data.
There was a loud explosion heard over SW PA. A flash that was not associated with lightning is shown in this product. This is the most likely explanation at this time.
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January 1, 2022.
The agency said that it could estimate the object's size at a yard in diameter, with a mass close to half a tonne.
The fireball would have been visible in the daytime sky if it weren't for the cloudy weather.
Shannon Hefferan of the National Weather Service told the Tribune-Review that satellite data showed a flash over Washington County at 11:30am on Saturday and officials believed it was a meteorite. Hefferan said there was a similar event in West Virginia.
NASA has a watch on Pittsburgh on New Year's Day.
Residents in South Hills and other areas heard a loud noise and felt their homes shake. There was no thunder or lightning in Allegheny County.
It was a loud boom and it shook my house. One person wrote that they thought an earthquake, train wreck, or big crash on the turnpike was what happened when they grabbed their dog.
A man in Southwest Ohio said they saw a flash and a boom and thought someone had lit some explosives.
