Updated March 21, 2026 — A probable meteorite tore through the roof and two stories of a house in the Ponderosa Forest neighborhood north of Houston on Saturday evening, officials said.
Ponderosa Fire Chief Fred Windisch told CBS News the space rock appeared to have crashed into a woman’s home and landed in the kitchen. Windisch said the object was slightly larger than his hand. The Ponderosa Fire Department shared photos of the damage.
NASA said the meteor became visible about 49 miles above the Stagecoach area northwest of Houston at 4:40 p.m. local time and traveled southeast at roughly 35,000 miles per hour. According to the agency, it began breaking apart about 29 miles above Bammel, just west of Cypress Station.
NASA added that the meteoroid had an estimated mass near one ton and a diameter of roughly three feet. Its fragmentation produced a pressure wave that generated booms heard by some residents across the region.
Across the Houston area, many people reported a low, rumbling sound, which several described as similar to thunder despite clear skies, CBS affiliate KHOU reported.
The event follows other recent fireball activity. Earlier this week, an asteroid weighing about seven tons and traveling at approximately 45,000 miles per hour passed over multiple states. In June of last year, a bright meteor exploded over Georgia, producing comparable sonic booms across the southeastern United States.
Local authorities and scientists are investigating the object and the scene to confirm whether the fragment recovered is indeed a meteorite and to assess any further hazards or property impacts.