1995-02-20 - North Cove, WA - Fireball

A very very large meteor

Living on the SW Washington Coast in an area of high erosion, in the aftermath of very high winds, and a very high tide, I went out to assess the damage in the light of a first quarter moon, shining thrugh a moderate cloud cover . After walking along my property on the shoreline, I came to a road, which was once a highway, but now broken by the erosion. I stood, looking in the dim light at the waves breaking and the driftwood being beaten on shore. All of a sudden, I noticed a deep green glow. I don't know exactly how it first caught my eye, but it became more and more apparent. The intensity grew... and the deep green turned into an electric... or an increasing radiant green. I was standing at North Cove of Willapa bay on SW Washington. I was now looking into the entire 110 sq. mile bay. The Hills at 2:30 AM were brightening and visible unlike anything I had ever seen in the daylight. This light compelled me to look around. I was wearing a baseball type hat. Apparently, the brim of the hat kept me from seeing what I finally saw because I had to look. Fifteen to twenty seconds into this electric green light intensifying experience, I finally looked up. Through an opaque cloud cover, and over the moonlight, I saw a silver fireball. (thinking, how could a silver fireball produce a green light? But it was the way I recorded it.) This object, from where I was standing, was as large as the moon, but moving downward from horizontal at about 15 degrees, and to the north (left to right)... There was a period where I wasn't aware of any object, but saw some ground effect. Then there was the time I moved my attention to the object. The total duration of the visual experience was around 20 seconds. In retrospect, I'd divide the time to half observing ground light, and the other half to observing the object. I have seen magnesium burn before. The ligh emmissions of this object were magnesium like. It trailed at a slight angle, from where I looked, located half way between Seattle and Portland. It looked to be a long way off and moving very fast. Then it went dark. As I pondered in the instant what had happened, I turned from the edge of the road and began walking up it towards a building I owned, located some several hundred feet away. About a minute and a half after I started walking, about the time I was ajacent the structure, there came a crash which nearly knocked me off my feet. It so happens that I tuned into Art Bell the night after and heard him ask if anyone had any information on a sighting in the NW. Two men from Everett Washington called, stating they had been out on break in the middle of the night when they saw this flash in the sky. Now understand this. It was a miserable winter night. No one had any reason to be out. I was only out because of extenuating circumstances dealing with erosion on my property. Calling in the same hour I saw it, local law enforcement called it "some loud thunder". As I understand, subsequent to the experience, something hit the Gig Harbor area. My personal feelings are that this thing came into the atmosphere around Portland, heading north/northwest. Given the 150 mile covered in 20 seconds, I'd estimate it's speed between 25 and 30 thousand miles per hour. ((name deleted))