7pm Update 1/17/18

A "bolide" is a large meteor that explodes in the atmosphere. This is now the description of Tuesday Evening's meteor over Michigan. Small fragments of the bolide may have impacted the ground north of Detroit, but we don't have any reports of anything found at this time.

Please refer to the above graphic for "What We Know" about Tuesday's meteor/bolide.

Thank you and have a great night.

-Chief Meteorologist Jay Berschback

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7:30am Wednesday Update:

The USGS confirms that Tuesday's fireball was a meteor. The American Meteor Society says this was a "slow moving" fireball that hit earth's atmosphere at 28,000 miles per hour around 8:08pm Tuesday. According to them, this fireball was likely a meteorite that broke up and hit the ground in several small pieces (but no confirmation as of now). The fireball was visible from 7 states, and in Canada. The sonic boom was heard and felt in our area, southeast Michigan, and in Ontario. The shaking even registered as a 2.0 on the Richter Scale which was centered just north of Detroit, MI. -Meteorologist Ross Ellet

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12am Update:

***A METEOR is an object that burns up before hitting the Earth's surface. A METEORITE is an object that impacts the Earth's surface***

The USGS is now reporting a Magnitude 2.0 Earthquake in southeast Michigan produced by the meteor/meteorite. The approximate location is near Mount Clemens (just north of Detroit). Please click on the on the right side of this page to connect to the USGS website.

There is no confirmation of an actual impact yet. The earthquake could have been caused by the sonic boom created by the meteor. We'll have to wait for more information to come out before we can make the final call on if the object hit the ground (meteorite) or it burned up in the air (meteor).

Please stay with 13abc and 13abc.com for more information on this unfolding situation.

-Chief Meteorologist Jay Berschback

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Around 8:08pm Tuesday evening, a very bright fireball appeared in the northern sky. All indications point to this being a meteor. 13abc has received reports of sightings all over the Midwest.

There were reports of a loud boom as well. This is not totally out of the ordinary with meteors of this magnitude. Just like lightning making thunder, a large meteor that produces a fireball can heat the air up so fast (and the object is moving faster than the speed of sound) that a boom is produced.

Stay with 13abc Action News for more information on this fireball sighting.

-Chief Meteorologist Jay Berschback