HOUSTON – A meteor, roughly 3 feet across and weighing about 1 ton, entered Earth’s atmosphere at around 35,000 mph on Saturday, creating a shockwave equivalent to 26 tons of TNT.
“We felt the house shake for a couple of seconds. It was a vibration. It was silent, but the house was definitely moving.” — Kiyan Badkoubeh, KPRC weekday morning producer.
Loud sonic booms that rattled homes, shook buildings, and sent vibrations through neighborhoods across the region.
Reports poured in from Cypress, Katy, Cinco Ranch, Wharton, and beyond, including northwest Houston suburbs and Waller County.
WATCH HERE:
Waller County Judge Trey Duhon posted on Facebook last night: “Waller County is booming apparently.. and I’m not talking about growth.” Daji reported last night in the article below.
READ HERE: Houston, did you hear the sonic BOOM? A meteor is the culprit!
NASA’s “Chicken Little Trajectory”:
The meteor first became visible near Stagecoach, Texas, northwest of Houston, then moved southeast before fragmenting near Cypress Station/Bammel, west of Cypress. For those wondering, myself included, “Chicken Little trajectory” is NASA’s playful, tongue-in-cheek term in their official fireball reports — a nod to the classic fable “Chicken Little” (“The sky is falling!”), since meteors involve actual rocks falling from the sky.
Just days earlier, on March 17 a larger daytime fireball was confirmed by NASA over Ohio. That one was about 6 feet across, weighed roughly 7 tons, and originated from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
A meteor - nearly 6 feet in diameter and weighing about 7 tons - entered Earth’s atmosphere near Cleveland, Ohio, on March 17, 2026, creating a light show in the sky and the opportunity to find pieces of the space rock on Earth.
— NASA's Johnson Space Center (@NASA_Johnson) March 20, 2026
The meteorites are suspected to be Eucrites, many… pic.twitter.com/gvGLmQOSa4
What’s the difference between the Houston and Ohio meteor?
The Ohio one was larger - nearly 6 feet weighing approximately 7 tons while Houston’s was smaller -roughly 3 feet weighing about 1 ton.
Tracking a heat dome:
And not only are our skies lighting up — so are our temperatures!
Saturday was one of the hottest days this year in Houston, and thanks to a heat dome building to the west, we’ll continue tracking potential record-breaking highs over the next few days. The average March high is 75. We’ll trend way above that as we head into our work week!