Light snow in the morning, balls of fire in the evening.
On Sunday, Dec. 12, locals flocked to social media after sightings of a “fireball” streaking downwards from the skies above Campbell River shortly after 5 pm.
While cruising the Island Hwy near Rockland Rd., Sean Mark captured it on video. “Coolest thing ever,” he said.
“I was headed back from Duncan Bay and spotted it over the water towards Quadra!” wrote another to the Facebook group, Campbell River Rant & Raves.
Meanwhile, Vista Radio’s Lori Perry spotted the bright light when looking out her front window.
“It just went sort of right through the trees,” she said.
“It was huge. It was the biggest one I’ve ever seen. I saw another during a meteor shower this past summer, but this one was bigger and brighter.”
Perry sums up her experience in one word: lucky. “There’s one in a hundred million chances of seeing it. Well, I guess, obviously, there were other people that saw it too,” she said with a laugh.
In fact, similar sightings happened across Vancouver Island.
“So it seems like people have seen it from Campbell River through to the Victoria area. I’ve got a few friends in the Comox Valley that witnessed it. Just a cool sighting, never seen that before in my life,” Kaila Kassinen told our newsroom.
Only to the south, it was accompanied by a “loud boom,” leading some to believe it was an earthquake.
“Earthquake 17:05, Saanichton area near Mt. Newton crossroad!” said one islander. “Felt in Sooke too!” added another.
But earthquake seismologist John Cassidy points to the latest data: “nothing obvious on seismographs on the South Island.”
“Not an earthquake (given that it was noticed from Sooke to Duncan to Saanich – and even a tiny earthquake felt across this area would be easily recorded),” Cassidy said.
“Perhaps a meteor.”
Geminid meteor shower at its peak tonight:
Keep your eyes on the sky this time of year.
“Every December, we have a chance to see one of our favourite meteor showers – the Geminids,” explains NASA.
“The shower is currently active until Dec. 17 and will peak on the night of Dec. 13 into the morning of Dec. 14, making those hours the best time for viewing the meteor shower.”
If it’s not cloudy, NASA says the Geminids can be seen by most of the world and best viewed in the Northern Hemisphere – where observers will likely see 30 to 40 meteors per hour.
More details here.
