Authored by T.J.Muscaro via The Epoch Times,
Just as it faces an annual hurricane season and tornado season, North America is also experiencing an annual “fireball season,” according to NASA.
“From February through April, the appearance rate of these very bright meteors can increase by as much as 10 percent to 30 percent, especially around the weeks of the March equinox,” NASA explained in a statement in late March.
”Exactly why is not known. Some astronomers think the Earth passes through more large debris at this time of year, causing an uptick in fireball sightings.”
But the relatively regular peak season appears to have been unusually active this year.
Fireball videos recorded worldwide between January and April 2026. The American Meteor Society said 41 large fireball events were reported in the first three months of 2026—nearly double the average number of reported events for that time period from the previous five years. Courtesy of American Meteor Society
The American Meteor Society, which has gathered professional and amateur meteor reports since 1911, said 41 large fireball events—observed by more than 50 people—were reported in the first three months of 2026. That’s nearly double the average number of reported events for that time period from the previous five years.
Mike Hankey, operations manager at the American Meteor Society, told The Epoch Times that this is specifically an increase in “sporadic” meteors that are not connected to any larger comet or asteroid or regularly tracked meteor shower. And the sudden surge is not due to an increase in the number of eyes on the sky, he said.
Astronomers who have dedicated themselves to watching the skies for the falling space rocks are not sure what caused the spike or if it is even a true anomaly—a one-off, unpredictable occurrence.
Hankey stops short of saying his data—an analysis of fireball events going back to 2011—are conclusive.
“I wouldn’t say that it’s an earth-shattering anything,” he said. “It’s just an observation, right? It’s just saying, ‘Hey, this is the most traffic we’ve ever had in any single month.’
“Without publishing a paper to prove that, I can’t say, ‘Oh, it’s not a statistical anomaly.’ Maybe it is.”
In the meantime, here’s what to know about these events.
What Is a ‘Fireball’?
The term “fireball” is essentially NASA’s designation for what kids would call a shooting star—a small piece of space debris whose self-destructive path through Earth’s atmosphere creates a streaking fireball brighter than the brilliant planet Venus.
The space agency released a meteor-focused FAQ page after multiple “fireball events” went viral in early spring.
Any space rocks that are more than a meter in diameter are called “asteroids,” and anything smaller is called a “meteoroid.” Meteoroids normally break off from a comet or asteroid, but on rare occasions have been found to be parts of the moon or Mars.
When either an asteroid or a meteoroid enters Earth’s atmosphere and starts to streak across the sky, it becomes a “meteor.“ When multiple objects enter the atmosphere from the same origin point, that event is called a ”meteor shower.”
When a meteor reaches an observable brightness greater than the luminosity of Venus in the morning or evening sky, it becomes registered as a “fireball.”
“They enter the atmosphere at relatively low speeds,” Hankey explained in a press release. “Slower entry means the meteor lasts longer in the sky, is visible over a wider area, produces sonic booms more often, and more material survives to reach the ground as meteorites.”
Any pieces of the meteor that survive the trip through the atmosphere and make it to Earth’s surface are called meteorites.
A graphic illustrating meteor terminology. Illustration by The Epoch Times, Freepik, Getty Images
For example, on March 17, a fireball was spotted over parts of Canada and the United States, breaking apart over northern Ohio. NASA confirmed the falling object to be an asteroid six feet in diameter and weighing about seven tons. Upon entering the atmosphere at 45,000 mph, it became a meteor. Then, it got so bright it became a fireball that eventually blew up mid-air, resulting in meteorite fragments falling to the ground.
While this event caught the nation’s attention, NASA said it is not that rare.
“Meteors are actually quite common,” the space agency explained. ”They occur all the time, and fireballs can be seen on any given night. But they often occur over the ocean or unpopulated areas with no witnesses, or during the daytime, making them difficult to spot.
“Viewers who catch a clear view of one in the dark skies above are treated to a spectacular sky show—but one that is hardly rare.”
(Left) A meteor streaks across the sky during the annual Perseid meteor shower in Spruce Knob, W. Va., on Aug. 11, 2021. (Right) A fireball event observed in Black River Falls, Wis., on Jan. 24, 2026. Bill Ingalls/NASA, Justin J. via www.amsmeteors.org
Tracking Fireballs
Most of the time, fireballs are small objects that create a flash across the sky lasting only a few seconds, Hankey told The Epoch Times. However, some can be big enough to create a sonic boom and deliver some fragments to the ground, possibly causing damage to lives and property.
Regardless of the scale of the event, the American Meteor Society urges those who witness a fireball to file a report on its website, noting when and where they saw the fireball, how long it shone in the sky, whether or not they heard a sonic boom, and whether or not they observed the fireball break up into fragments.
Then, similar to how the National Weather Service sends out assessment teams to confirm tornado sightings submitted by its spotter network, the society tasks teams to assess the reports coming in. Those teams will officially confirm the falling meteor and send out recovery teams to search for and collect any surviving fragments. More than 200 fragments were found from the March 17 fireball event alone.
(Left) A still from a video captures a fireball in Kennerdell, Pa., on March 17, 2026. (Right) A still from a home security camera video captures a fireball in Ravenna, Ohio, on March 17, 2026. Courtesy of Jeff Campbell, David Hamann/American Meteor Society
The society also utilizes the 1,000-camera All Sky 7 network to keep as close an eye on the night sky as possible.
Hankey joined the society in 2010. A software developer by trade, he rebuilt the organization’s website and fireball reporting tool and continues to use Google Maps and Claude AI to streamline the collection and organization of the society’s data.
That data—often organically acquired as people file observational reports—produces new insights into the field of astronomy and space weather. Through this data collection, the society is able to figure out a meteor’s speed, size, and origin.
NASA, meanwhile, has its own eyes on the sky with the NASA All-Sky Fireball Network, a group of 17 cameras spread out across the country, run by the NASA Meteoroid Environment Office.
Three of those cameras are located in Florida, three in the northern Ohio/Pennsylvania area, and five in southern New Mexico and Arizona. Six others are found in north Alabama, north Georgia, southern Tennessee, and southern North Carolina.
NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office also focuses on understanding how much of a risk these meteor impacts and their apparently seasonal fluctuations pose to spacecraft flying in and beyond Earth’s orbit.
An illustration depicts NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft prior to impact at the Didymos binary asteroid system. The mission tested whether intentionally crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid is an effective way to change its course, should an Earth-threatening asteroid be discovered in the future. Steve Gribben/Johns Hopkins APL/NASA
However, most fireballs are very small and are very difficult to track.
“The objects are pretty small, you know,” Hankey said. “A golf ball will make a fireball. A bowling ball will make a huge fireball. Something that’s like the size of a chair would make a humongous fireball. But to a telescope a million miles away, it’s not even a speck.”
NASA’s planetary defense network specifically looks for space rocks that are 140 meters or larger—larger than a small football stadium—which are deemed large enough to cause widespread damage if they breach the earth’s atmosphere.
Unclear If Fireball ‘Spike’ Is an Anomaly
But Hankey noted that as more and more data are collected over the years, the recent, seemingly random spike in sporadic fireballs may turn out to be not so random after all.
He pointed out that another spike in large fireball events was logged in the first quarter of 2021, although that number was still less than this year’s: 30 events reported by at least 50 people each, compared to 41.
The American Meteor Society published a graph of the number of fireball events reported by more than 50 people during the first quarter of the last 15 years in March, 2026. Illustrated by The Epoch Times, Courtesy of the American Meteor Society
“If we see that same spike in 2031, I mean, it’s a long way to wait—five more years—but that might say something,” he said. “If we can say, ‘Look, the AMS saw this same spike in five-year increments,’ then we would hypothesize that we would see it in the fourth year. If we did, we could probably prove it, right?”
“I mean, I’ll probably be almost 70 at that point,” he added. “That’s just the way astronomy is.”
.png?branch=production&format=jpg&width=1024)
.jpg?branch=production&format=jpg&width=1024)
