17 March 2026 · 12:56:43 UTC

Wadsworth

Wadsworth, Ohio, USA

  • Found by MetDetect
  • Human-verified · Marc Fries
  • Meteorites recovered
Fireball (UTC)
2026-03-17 12:56:43 ± 5 s GOES lightning mapper (GLM)
Radar searched
KCLE
Meteorites
Wadsworth (Eucrite-mmict) Meteoritical Bulletin entry
MetDetect
MetDetect RUN-41 design fall · radar KCLE

Automated detection

MetDetect searched the KCLE radar around the fireball time. It found the fall: the radar cells it reports are mostly the debris identified by hand.

  • 56of the 338 hand-identified cells on KCLE found
  • 282hand-identified cells missed
  • 8cells reported that were not identified by hand
Map and height-against-time plot of the radar cells MetDetect found and the cells identified by hand
Each mark is one radar measurement cell on KCLE. Blue: found by MetDetect and identified by hand; orange squares: found only by MetDetect; green rings: identified by hand, missed by MetDetect. Left: positions (the arrow points to the radar); right: height against time after the fireball.

MetDetect RUN-41, 29 Oct 2026. Leave one fall out: every learned part was trained without the fall it is scored on. The design falls were used to develop the method, so their scores are development results; the held-out falls were not. Hand-identified cells on KCLE outside the data the search loads, not counted: 1. The hand identification is the reference these numbers are graded against.

Dark flight

After the fireball goes dark, meteorites fall freely through the wind. Each radar cell is flown down to the ground through the winds of that day; the coloured areas show where stones of each mass most likely landed, and the black line runs from light to heavy stones (solid where the radar traced it, dashed where extended).

Dark-flight map from the automatically detected radar cells
From MetDetect's cells (64 cells, KCLE). Search area for stones of 10 g and up: 9.7 km². Recovered meteorites inside it: 0 of 13.

Pixel estimate, computed by P. Shober with MetDetect: winds from ERA5 (ECMWF), masses for an ordinary-chondrite density over a range of shapes. Preliminary: it does not fit the fireball itself, so the heavy end of the line is an extrapolation. Stars mark recovered meteorites (published positions, not independently checked); they are drawn for comparison only and were never used to make the maps. Counted stones are those of 10 g and up, or of unpublished mass.

Human identification

The radar signatures of this fall were identified by hand by Marc Fries (NASA ARES, Johnson Space Center). Read the original report (archived copy).

Meteorites

Publications

No papers on this fall yet that we know of.

Know of a paper or a recovered meteorite we missed? Tell us.

Notes

NASA ARES lists this fall as Windfall, Ohio.

MetDetect’s RUN-41 searched one radar, KCLE (Cleveland). KCLE saw only fine debris, about 0.1–0.6 g, late in the fall, so the map from its cells lies north of the recovered stones. Other radars nearby, including the TLVE airport radar (TDWR, Cleveland Hopkins), saw the heavier stones. Searching every radar that can see a fall, airport radars included, is the next step for MetDetect.

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