Bright lights reported over Midwest skies
Pastor Dale Morgan
Bright lights reported over Midwest skies*
From southeastern Wisconsin to as far as Des Moines, Iowa and St.
Louis, people reported seeing balls of fire, possibly meteors, streaking
across the sky Sunday night.
Associated Press
MILWAUKEE — From southeastern Wisconsin to as far as Des Moines, Iowa
and St. Louis, people reported seeing balls of fire, possibly meteors,
streaking across the sky last night.
No major meteor showers were expected in the northern hemisphere on
Sunday night, said Jim Lattis, director of the University of
Wisconsin-Madison astronomy department's Space Place. But he said it was
possible that a minor shower may have been what prompted calls to
authorities.
The National Weather Service's Sullivan office said reports were called
in from Iowa, northern Illinois and on up to Green Bay.
Dozens of people throughout the St. Louis region and Illinois reported
small objects that looked like bright lights or something burning, with
flaming tails behind some of them, said Ken Tretter, with the Missouri
State Highway Patrol in St. Louis.
In Wisconsin, a Waukesha County dispatch supervisor said two callers
reported a sighting around 8:15 p.m.
The Winnebago County Sheriff's Department said it received calls from
Oshkosh, Ripon, Appleton, Neenah, and Pulaski, among others.
A preliminary report Sunday indicated that the lights were from a
meteor, said Maj. April Cunningham, a spokeswoman for North American
Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, which watches for airborne threats
to the United States and Canada.
"We had a pilot reporting seeing a meteor and that's really all the
information we have tonight," Cunningham said.