LINK: THE MYSTERY EXPLAINED?

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Residents in and around the Southland reported seeing a series of strange lights up in the sky Wednesday night.

Viewers described shooting lights with many colors and even a tail.

The first reports came from Riverside County around 7 p.m. Wednesday. Within a half hour, several Orange County residents also reported seeing the lights. After about an hour, reports were coming from all over the West.

Most said the lights were “blue and green.” A few described the lights as yellow or orange.

CBS2 and KCAL9 first received emails and phone calls from Murrieta, Perris, Irvine, Ontario, Riverside, Lake Forest, Corona and San Clemente.

Additionally, police report they received many calls about the lights.

UPDATE: (8:30 p.m., Sept. 14): Some residents of Arizona have reported seeing the lights as well.

UPDATE: (8:52 p.m., Sept. 14): Residents of Nevada, many in Las Vegas, are also reporting the green-blue lights in the sky.

UFOs? Several days ago, NASA announced a dead satellite would fall to Earth by “September’s end” but so far, no official confirmation if the lights and satellite are linked.

Curt Kaplan of the National Weather Service says the object “was probably a meteor.” The director of the Griffith Observatory concurred. Ed Krupp told us that what was seen tonight was likely “a piece of interplanetary debris that passed through the Earth’s atmosphere and burned up.”

He added, “This kind of thing happens about once a year, or once every few years.”

Some viewer and eyewitness accounts follow:

Anonymous: “I was on my cell outside, in City of industry when I looked up and saw the green, orange falling object about 7:40 p.m. As I saw it my buddy was on his way home on the 91 and he saw it at the same time. ”

Bernadette: “I live in Quartz Hill. It was green in color and very large.”

Francesa D: “I live in Chino it looked like a falling star at first and continued on forever with a reddish green tail behind it before it was too low to see anymore. ”

Chasen H: “I was on the 405 South and saw a bright light in the east. I thought it was a helicopter with its searchlight on but saw it aim downward, turn green and streak towards the ground. I was at the Carson/Harbor Gateway border at the time.”

Terr: “I am in south Ontario. My daughter and I were in the driveway as we saw the fiery yellow and orange falling. We thought maybe it was a firework of some sort. But wasn’t. It was very bright and pretty big in size. We lost sight of it behind trees.”

Gerardo H.: “My friend in Vegas said a green thing landed on the next block over and the military has it blocked off.