That loud explosion you heard at 3:15 a.m. on Sunday?

VICKSBURG, Miss. (VDN) — The source of the mysterious, loud explosion heard by thousands early Sunday morning has been identified: a fireball streaking across the sky.

At 3:15 a.m. Sunday, Warren County residents were awakened by a loud explosion, which several people said sounded like thunder. Others reported hearing a second boom as well, and then a trailing sound, not unlike a tugboat. Hundreds of comments on social media included people from Utica to Sharkey County hearing the boom. One person reported hearing the boom, a second softer boom, a trailing sound, and a greenish light in the sky.

According to the American Meteor Society, the event was caused by a fireball — a particularly bright meteor — that likely entered the atmosphere above western Alabama near the Mississippi state line. It traveled westward, passing almost directly over Warren County before burning up, likely over Louisiana.

Reports of the fireball came in from as far south as New Orleans and as far north as Branson, Missouri.

The American Meteor Society, Ltd. is a non-profit scientific organization founded in 1911 and established to inform, encourage, and support the research activities of both amateur and professional astronomers who are interested in the fascinating field of Meteor Astronomy. Our affiliates observe, monitor, collect data on, study, and report on meteors, meteor showers, fireballs, and related meteoric phenomena.