From the National Weather Service:
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON KY
1145 PM EST FRI FEB 13 2009…POSSIBLE SATELLITE DEBRIS FALLING ACROSS THE REGION…
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSON HAS RECEIVED CALLS THIS EVENING FROM THE PUBLIC CONCERNING POSSIBLE EXPLOSIONS AND…OR EARTHQUAKES ACROSS THE AREA. THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION HAS REPORTED TO LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT THAT THESE EVENTS ARE BEING CAUSED BY FALLING SATELLITE DEBRIS. THESE PIECES OF DEBRIS HAVE BEEN CAUSING SONIC BOOMS…RESULTING IN THE VIBRATIONS BEING FELT BY SOME RESIDENTS…AS WELL AS FLASHES OF LIGHT ACROSS THE SKY. THE CLOUD OF DEBRIS IS LIKELY THE RESULT OF THE RECENT IN ORBIT COLLISION OF TWO SATELLITES ON TUESDAY…FEBRUARY 10TH WHEN KOSMOS 2251 CRASHED INTO IRIDIUM 33.
(h/t Slog)
And I can’t believe I beat Phil “Death from the Skies” Plait to this! Actual Death from the Skies!
February 16th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Love the title, and yes, Phil will be green
February 16th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Phil would be green if the story was true. As he explains on his site, it is highly unlikely that any pieces of the satellites have fallen to earth yet.
I’d bet the NWS is wrong about the origin of the sound and light—in fact it sounds like a thunderstorm to me.
February 16th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
[...] Bewolkt met hier en daar kans op neerstortende satellieten. Bron: Cosmic Variance. [...]
February 16th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Well, I might have been green with envy, except I had a link to that bulletin in my blog yesterday. Twice.
Go here and Here too (search on the word Kentucky).
There is no beating me! Except with a stick. And that might be illegal.
February 16th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Oh please — those were buried deep in your excitement over the Texas fireball (which yes, was cool). How the hell was I supposed to figure out that you’d linked to weather reports about space debris? A low blow Dr Plait. A low blow indeed.
February 16th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Beating Phil with a stick? Where do I sign up……..
February 16th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Y’mean it wudn’t aleeuns?
February 17th, 2009 at 6:51 am
[...] Shared a link on Google Reader. Cloudy with a Chance of Satellite [...]
February 20th, 2009 at 12:28 am
[...] Remember when that defunct Russian satellite crashed into the Iridium satellite a week or so ago? Lots of debris, some of which came down as weather? [...]