Suspected meteorite crashes into Houston home, officials say | Houston
A suspected meteorite crashed into a suburban Houston home Saturday evening, according to residents and local authorities.
Speaking to local news outlet KHOU11 over the weekend, Spring area resident Sherrie James recalled the incident, saying, “My grandson went to check and said there was a hole in the ceiling…then I saw the rock and thought, ‘That looks like a meteor.’ »
James said she reported the incident to the local fire department. “The first thing they thought was that maybe he had fallen out of a plane,” she said. However, firefighters later informed her that they had received reports that a meteor was over the northern part of Houston and had exploded into several pieces.
On Saturday, the US space agency NASA confirmed the meteor reports, saying in a statement on X: “Eyewitnesses in Texas observed a bright fireball today… [4.40pm local time]. Current data indicates the meteor became visible 49 miles above Stagecoach, northwest of Houston. It moved southeast at 35,000 mph, breaking 29 miles above Bammel, just west of Cypress Station.
It adds: “The fragmentation of the meteor – which weighed about a ton and measured 3 feet in diameter – created a pressure wave that caused detonation sounds heard by some in the area. Doppler weather radar also showed meteorites produced between Willowbrook and Northgate Crossing.”
Local residents reported hearing thunder-like noises as the fireball was visible. Bridgeland resident Wendy Camardelle Heppner told KHOU11 it “sounded like thunder, but clear skies” — while Dickinson resident Shylie Troquille reported a small fireball in the sky that quickly disappeared.
Saturday’s episode in Houston comes just days after a meteor in Ohio created a boom so loud it was heard as far away as Pennsylvania. Traveling at 45,000 mph, the asteroid — about 7 feet in diameter and weighing about 6 tons — triggered the explosion, which NASA said was felt well beyond northern Ohio.
The events in Houston on Saturday recalled an episode in August 2025 in which a small fireball – no bigger than a cherry tomato – ravaged a house in Atlanta. It was later confirmed to have come from a meteorite formed 4.56 billion years ago.
