{"id":40548,"date":"2026-03-19T15:14:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T14:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/karmaka.de\/?p=40548"},"modified":"2026-05-01T09:06:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T07:06:16","slug":"meteorite-fall-in-windfall-medina-county-ohio-usa-at-1256-utc-on-17-march-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/karmaka.de\/?p=40548","title":{"rendered":"WADSWORTH meteorite fall (>1728 g, Eucrite) near Wadsworth (Medina County) and Rittman (Wayne County), Ohio, USA at 12:56:42 UTC on 17 March 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last update: 1 May 2026 (08:30 CEST)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first meteorite finds were reported on 18 March 2026. After a first online report of a small 1.75-gram specimen found in a concrete parking lot in Sharon Center, Medina County, by Matt Perison, meteorite dealer Roberto Vargas reported having found a 12.2-gram fragment, which was then broken and sold in fragments. Many often fully-crusted and rather small masses have been found by different searchers so far. On 20 March Mark Sokol from New Jersey and friends found a larger mass weighing 509.9 grams, reportedly near location 40\u00b057’37.9″N, 81\u00b046’38.3″W<\/a>, in a field south of Rittman, Wayne County. It was almost fully embedded in the soft soil of a field when found. The specimen is currently being analysed in a laboratory. On 24 March 2026 Jeff Makkos reports the find of a baseball-sized fully crusted specimen (308.1 g) in a field. It is still possible that a mass weighing around 84 kilograms could have impacted the ground around location 40\u00b056’10.3″N, 81\u00b052’01.2″W<\/a>, although the radar signature may be erroneous. The site may still merit searching. On 30 April 2026 the meteorite fall was registered as ‘confirmed fall’ Wadsworth<\/strong><\/a> (monomict eucrite) in the database of the Meteoritical Bulletin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jeff Makkos’s specimen (308.1 g) on 24 March 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Larger mass found by Jeff Makkos on 24 March 2026. Photos: Jeff Makkos<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The cleaned meteorite mass. Photo: Jeff Makkos<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 509.9-gram mass in situ on 20 March 2026. Photo: Mark Sokol<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photos: Mark Sokol<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo: Mark Sokol<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photos: Mark Sokol<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The meteorite being analysed in the lab. Photo: Mark Sokol<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Stephen Poterala’s reported 66-gram specimen. Photos: Stephen Poterala<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Amy Jenkin’s 53-gram specimen in situ. Photo: Amy Jenkin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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12.2-gram specimen in situ in Windfall. Photos: Roberto Vargas<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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12.2-gram specimen. Photos: Roberto Vargas<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A second ‘spiky’ specimen found by Roberto Vargas. Photos: Roberto Vargas<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gabe Leidy’s specimen (11.1 g) on 18 March 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oriented and fully-crusted 11.1-gram specimen found in Sharon Center by Gabe Leidy (39) from North Ridgeville, Ohio in the afternoon of 18 March 2026 after searching for about an hour and a half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Specimen at find location. Photo: Gabe Leidy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photos: Gabe Leidy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Trailing side of the beautiful oriented specimen. Photo: Gabe Leidy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Marcus Day’s find (23.1 g) on 29 March 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photos: Marcus Day (29 March 2026)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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James Martz’s 15.66-gram specimen in situ. Photo: James Martz<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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James Martz’s 15.66-gram specimen in situ. Photo: James Martz<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Specimen in situ, found by Carl Dietrich. Photo: Carl Dietrich<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Matt Perison’s 1.75-gram find<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.75-gram specimen found in a parking lot in Sharon Center, Medina County, Ohio by Matt Perison after he got out of his truck after lunch. It is the first find which was reported online on 18 March 2026. Because of this find it was obvious that an achondrite had fallen the day before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1.75-gram specimen. Photo: Matt Perison (Opposite-Permission4)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1.75-gram specimen in situ. Photo: Matt Perison (Opposite-Permission4)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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155-gram mass (probably found on 2 April 2026)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo: Filip Nikodem (3 April 2026)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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69.4-gram mass (probably found on 2 April 2026)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo: Leon Thann (3 April 2026)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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54.13-gram mass (found on 25 March 2026)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo: Leon Thann, Filip Nikodem<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Calculated fall area (last update on 26 March 2026, restored to more precise original map)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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NASA’s calculated fall area based on data from three weather radars, KCLE (Cleveland), the Cleveland airport radar TLVE, and KPBZ (Pittsburgh). Simplified estimate of where meteorites landed. Dark red is where 10kg meteorites landed IF they were produced, then 1kg (red), 100g (dark orange), 10g (light orange) and 1g (yellow). Image: NASA ARES meteorite falls<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Composite image of weather radar signatures of falling meteorites. The blue-gray pixels are radar signatures of falling meteorites seen in weather radar imagery. View is straight down, total elapsed time is 12 minutes. Image: NASA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bolide above Cleveland, Ohio, recorded by NOAA’s GOES-East ‘Geostationary Lightning Mapper'(GLM), a near-infrared optical detector, at 9:01 am ET (13:01 UTC) on Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (Image: NOAA GOES EAST)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Map showing the calculated trajectory (red line) as calculated from OhioSeis seismic stations, with symbols marking seismic stations that recorded the sonic boom. The seismic trajectory closely matches NASA\u2019s satellite derived path. (Image: Ohio Geological Survey)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The nontectonic (non-earthquake) signal captured at stations in Chesterland, Chagrin River Park, Lake Erie Bluffs, and Red Brook Metropark. The signal reached each station at slightly different times depending on how far it was from the meteor\u2019s path. Image: Ohio Seismic Network (OhioSeis)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The bolide<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is assumed that the meteoroid had a diameter of about 2 metres weighing around 6 metric tons. At the moment of the bolide’s brightest flare during fragmentation at an altitude of 45 km above location 41.2 N, 82.0 W the total radiated energy was 12.6^10 Joule and the calculated total impact energy was 0.37 kilotons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n