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Fireball lights up sky over Ohio, Internet says it's ‘God’s commentary on proceedings in Cleveland last night’

The American Meteor Society (AMS) is said to have received more than 320 reports so far about a fireball event that took place over Ohio on September 30 around 06:24 EDT

Is it raining fireballs in Ohio? Just before the sunrise on Wednesday, September 30, many people saw bright lighting in the sky that they called a fireball in several areas from North Carolina to Chicago and Ohio to Toronto. Several clips of the fireball were also captured by people, which were shared across social media. Most of the photos revealed a blackened sky and a peculiar lighting phenomenon exuding bright light. 
 
The American Meteor Society (AMS) is said to have received more than 320 reports so far about a fireball event that took place over Ohio around 06:24 EDT. Additionally, it also got reports from Washington DC, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Ontario about the event. 

As per the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), fireballs are big meteors resulting from meteoroids falling into the Earth's atmosphere and burning up. NASA defines them as unusually bright meteors that reach a visual magnitude of -3 or brighter when seen at the observer’s zenith. Further, objects causing fireball events can exceed one meter in size. Fireballs that explode in the atmosphere are technically referred to as bolides although the terms fireballs and bolides are often used interchangeably, the agency reports. 

As soon as the bright flashes were observed in the sky, people snapped pictures and shared them on the Internet. Jay Berschback, Chief Meteorologist for 13abc in Toledo, Ohio, tweeted, “Did you see this at 6:24 am today? We had a fireball, a very bright meteor with a long tail, light up the eastern sky. This is a picture from eastern Ohio. People from Washington D.C. to Indiana and Michigan to South Carolina saw this bright flash.” 

Meteorologist Chris Vickers tweeted, “Getting reports of a brilliant shooting star around 6:25 am! If confirmed, this meteor could have been a rare FIREBALL with a colorful burning blue or red tail. Picture from The American Meteor Society of a Fireball.” A user wrote, “Fireball explodes over Pennsylvania and Ohio. Clusters are coming.” Vickers shared, “FIREBALL METEOR! Over 160 pending reports across 13 states and Ontario of a brilliant fireball meteor this morning. The majority of the reports were from Ohio. The meteor was described to have a vibrant blue or white steak that faded with a reddish glow,” while Ohio Dept of Transportation tweeted, “We caught a meteor on a couple of our http://OHGO.com cameras this morning.” Another noted, “Ok.... who had 'Gigantic Fireball in the sky over Ohio' for 2020 Apocalypse Bingo?” Meanwhile, a user quipped, “So an ACTUAL fireball came down from the heavens ... apparently toward Ohio. Which I guess is God’s commentary on the proceedings in Cleveland last night. LikeARainbowButFire.”