Fireball streaks across Utah sky, surprises early morning drivers

TOOELE, Utah (KUTV) — A bright fireball streaked across Utah’s skies early Thursday morning, surprising drivers and sparking widespread attention online.

One of the first people to post a video of the fireball was Jerry Duckworth, who said he was on his way to work from Tooele to the Salt Lake Valley when he noticed something unusual.

“I saw something out of the corner of my eye, and I just thought, what looked like a spark from a firework or something?” Duckworth said.

That thought made him pull over and check his dashcam. That’s when he realized he had captured the striking flash of light.

“The first reaction was, ‘Whoa, what the heck?’” he said.

Duckworth said he was in the right place at the right time.

“It was one of those — I happened to be at the right time, right place, and caught the video perfectly.”

The footage quickly spread online, along with other clips, including one from a Nest camera in Bluffdale showing the same bright streak across the sky.

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But what exactly was seen over Utah?

“This morning, we experienced here in Utah what we call a fireball,” said Jason Trump, the education programs supervisor at the Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake City.

Trump explained that a fireball is a type of extremely bright meteor.

“A fireball is a very large and bright shooting star,” he said.

He added that Utah is currently in what scientists call “fireball season,” which runs from February through April.

“What makes Utah so incredible is that we have some very dark skies here in this state,” Trump said, noting those conditions make celestial events easier to spot.

While the flash was widely seen, experts say it is still too early to determine whether any pieces reached the ground.

“It’s hard to say where something would have landed,” Trump said. “All the reports are still coming in.”

For Duckworth, the moment was unexpected and unforgettable.

“I didn’t expect it to happen, and it ended up happening,” he said. “It’s just one of those — you wake up not knowing what’s going to happen in the day, and the first thing you see is that.”

Officials said analysis is ongoing as scientists review video and radar data to better understand the fireball’s path and whether any fragments may have survived the descent.

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