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Many residents in southern B.C. were treated to a rare sight on Monday night.
At 10:17 p.m., the sky in many parts of the B.C. Interior was lit up by what is believed to be a meteorite.
Security footage of Monday night's #meteor, looking east towards Black Mountain from Rutland. #bcmeteor #kelownanow https://t.co/UM2wkIVvXQ pic.twitter.com/A6PB7yTrvz
— KelownaNow.com (@KelownaNow) September 5, 2017
B.C. resident Jacquie McKay was lying in bed when she saw the sky light up outside, so she checked her security camera and posted the footage.
At the time this story was published, it had already been viewed 135,000 times and shared nearly 5,500 times in just eight hours.
After a long summer of providing information about the fires around our province, BC’s Chief Fire Information Officer Kevin Skrepnek was providing different information on Monday.
“Initially, I thought it was a power surge and all the streetlights were shorting at once,” Skrepnek tweeted. “Then, to the east, I saw a reddish fireball streak and break up (almost like a sideway firework) going south to north.”
He added that, “nothing happened afterward, but then within 60 seconds there was a massive sound (like a long, rolling thunderclap) for about five seconds.”
Here's the meteor. Apparently it landed near Nelson, BC. 200km west of Calgary pic.twitter.com/DprrY42FsI
— RP (@RafaelPern) September 5, 2017
Not only did Skrepnek provide one of the earliest detailed accounts of the meteor, but he also won the internet with one of his follow up tweets.
“If we get an alien-caused fire I am officially done,” he said, and we can’t argue with that.
Numerous sources, including Skrepnek, say that the meteor crash landed near Nelson, but the exact spot hasn't been located yet.
Did you see the meteor last night or even catch it on video? Let us know or send us footage at news@kelownanow.com.
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