American Meteor Society
The American Meteor Society has received nearly 300 reports of a bright fireball occurring over Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. This object appeared near 8:25pm PDT on the evening of September 13, 2014. Many observers commented on the intense green color which is not that unusual with bright meteors. The green color is associated with doubly ionized oxygen, high in the atmosphere, being “excited” as the fireball plows through the atmosphere.
Below is the heat map of the witnesses of this event.
AMS EVENT #2165-2014 – Heatmap
Below are two videos of the event – the first one is a timelapse, the second one has been caught by Tracerx Photography in Washington.
If you saw this fireball, please fill out an official fireball report with the AMS. To learn more about fireball meteors read our Fireball FAQ.
We encourage witnesses who saw this fireball to also download the AMS Mobile App for iPhone or Android and submit an enhanced fireball report using your mobile device. The data we can collect from the mobile App is more accurate and allows us to determine the velocity of the fireball. If you already submitted a web based report, please also complete the mobile report.
i witnessed the meteor in the northwestern sky while traveling west on hwy 530 between darington and arlington washington
I saw the fireball approx 828pm Saturday 9/13 1 mile south of Plummer Idaho. (approx 30 miles south of Coeur d’Alene)
I have never seen such a thing before. It was amazing ….but very quick!
September 13, 2014, I was walking our dog about 8:20 p.m. and saw a very bright object in the sky to the north of where I live near Philomath, OR, in the Willamette Valley. I did not believe it was a meteor at the time as the color and size were very unusual. It was not only quite large, but had a brilliant green color as others reported. Another person was riding up our road on a bike and I asked him if he had seen it, but he hadn’t. When I went inside I told my wife about it and also called a friend and mentioned it. I didn’t think more about it until I saw a report of a meteor sighting on the East Coast that also mentioned this one on the West Coast. After reading about it I’m certain it was the same thing I saw, but I’m quite sure it was earlier than 8:25 p.m. Pacific, more like 8:18-20 p.m. Again, my first impression was that it must have been space junk and not a meteor. John Wood
On the 13th driving home from orting on Patterson hill, I saw a huge orange, yellow ball of fire with a slight tail fall to earth from fast, the ball of fire was distinct. When I got to the bottom of hill, I pulled over to see if there was smoke, or a fire starting up on the ridge, but did not see any. Im not totally sure what I saw, I do know it was not fireworks! Awesome experience though
WE SAW THE METEOR ON THE NORTHWEST SIDE OF ANDERSON ISLAND, OVER LOOKING THE PUGET SOUND.
Coupeville WA 13 Sept 8:28 _Long thick bright green streak SW Mid sky down toward NW horizon. Long trail enough time for me to call out to others to look up. Broke into multiple orange trails. Thought it was an aircraft disaster or fire works, no sound , Amazing natural sight.
On September 13, in Lakewood, WA at about 8:20 pm my husband and I were driving home and saw a whitish colored “fireball” falling quickly from the sky – it was very low and we lost sight of it because of trees and buildings. At first glance I thought maybe an airplane had exploded but then we figured out it was probably a meteor.. We thought we would hear it hit the ground or see smoke. We drove around and didn’t find where it landed.We guessed it had to have landed in Lakewood, Steilacoom or University Place but haven’t heard anything.
I’ve never seen an even occur so close or so bright before. I thought perhaps it was a rogue military flare or something until I started to hear of other reports of the object outside of my city. I was viewing from the viewpoint at the top of Mt Doug in Victoria BC with some friends. I was facing south towards Port Angeles WA; the object appeared slightly west of this.
Friends and I saw this fireball to the west of Eliza Island in the San Juans, Whatcom County, WA. I can’t give a precise time but about 8:30 Saturday evening sounds right. It’s center was a brilliant green with a lighter, almost yellow band around it. It dropped below another island to our west, which would indicate either that it was traveling to the west or down toward the horizon.
I was sitting in Ocean Shores watching a movie when I caught site of a bright light that looked like something sparking from it. Very un-nerving.
As I was in the back yard with my children we say the very bright (shooting star) as I explained it to them. It was ending it course and it left behind a trail of what looked like sparks as it fluttered to its end. I live in Marysville on the east side of I-5 and looking west the glow was to the west going NW. This was not like any meteor I had seen before when watching meteorite showers. It is now more than 2 days past and my children are still taking about it.
I was in Edmonds, WA when I saw this fireball. It was bright white/green and lasted long enough for me to call my son over to see it. It was toward the southwest and went out above the western horizon. It flashed bright then fizzled out with what looked like orange sparks. Amazing!!!
My family and some friends of ours were in Napavine Wa, at a youth football game on the night of Saturday the 13th. It was probably about 8:30 when one of the my sons friends pointed out a bright green light shooting across the sky. We all just assumed if had something to do with the northern lights. It didn’t last for long but was long enough for us all to see it. It also looked very low in the sky
I saw this Fireball on my way home from work Saturday night 9-13-2014 at almost 8:30 pm, had a great view from Airway Heights on US HWY 2 NW looking going towards Seattle. looked like a large shooting star but the color was greenish and the tip of it very bright and white.
I was sitting on my neighbors front steps in Seattle, and I was looking toward the northwest and saw a meteor streak coming from high up in the sky, traveling straight down. It seemed to slow as it went on, and I yelled “WOW look at that” to my neighbor, he turned and saw the last few seconds before it burned up and turned into spark showers. It was bright white and turned to green, and yellow before burning up with sparks flying off the tail. It lasted four or five seconds… Amazing!!!
I was sitting on the couch with my significant other and I was getting in trouble over something when I saw it out the window from Medford, OR.
I interrupted the conversation and went to investigate as I’d never seen anything like it.
She still thinks I made the whole thing up in an obnoxious attempt to excuse myself from receiving a tongue lashing.
My husband and I saw this brilliant green fire ball as we were heading home from his 50th high school reunion in McMinnville, Oregon.
We did not note the time but around 8:30 PM would be about right. It seemed very close and lasted for longer than either of us has ever seen a meteor last before. We were driving north on Hwy 47 just north of Carlton, Oregon in the Willamette Valley. The fireball was in the northwest from the direction we were driving. It was very beautiful.
My friend and I were driving south on Highway 97 about 14 miles south of Chelan, WA. It was about 8:25 p.m. on Sept. 13, 2014. We were looking for the evening star, when to the southeast, this huge green, oblong streak of light appeared with a larger head. It flashed across the sky in front of us. It was traveling in a direction of southeast to northwest, was so low in the sky that we guessed it would land in Sun Cove, a residential subdivision about a mile up the road. I pulled over as the entire sight was so awesome and waited for smoke and fire, etc. from where it landed, but none appeared. It was like nothing either of us had ever observed. It was mainly green in color but had other rainbow like colors. The shape of it reminded us of the niki logo, but with a larger, rounder head to it. Would really like to hear what this could have been.
I seen this one, I was driving north thru longbeach, Wa around 830 the ball was green hue it was the size of a dime if you held it in your hand up to the sky. It had a 3 inch sparking tail if you were to picture it the sky he understood the dime. I seen it shoot from the north east sky for over 15 seconds before it disappeared. It’s the most amazing natural event I’ve witnessed.
I was in Airway heights also that fine evening. I knew it was a fireball class meteor based on what my science teacher described about his own experience. The entire sky lit up like daylight for a few seconds. As the fireball went passed, a friend and i could hear a slight crinkly noise then just as it disintegrated into multiple pieces, we both felt a short wave of noticeable heat that seamed to coincide with the fireballs recent presence. Its always made me wonder how close(in the meteor world) we came to being incinerated, combusted, or vaporized by the event. Based on the posts here, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and we even had front row seats.