[meteorite-list] No One Knows Why Ice Chunk Fell from Sky in Oakland

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Apr 12 12:30:34 2006
Message-ID: <200604112353.k3BNrx809600_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/11/BAGPJI74I11.DTL

No one knows why ice fell from sky

Big chunk hit park, leaving in its wake 24-by-18-inch hole

Henry K. Lee
San Francisco Chronicle
April 11, 2006

The mystery of the big chunk of ice that landed with a thud
in an Oakland park will remain a mystery because apparently
no one is investigating where it came from or why it fell
from the sky.

The puzzler began about 10 a.m. Saturday, when the chunk
slammed into the ground at Bushrod Park on Shattuck Avenue
hard enough to send a spray of turf and ice several feet
skyward. The impact left a hole 24 inches wide and 18
inches deep.

No one was injured, but many residents witnessed the odd
occurrence and summoned the police and fire departments.

The Oakland Fire Department's hazardous-materials team
analyzed the projectile and concluded that it contained
nothing more hazardous than water, fire Capt. Melinda
Drayton said Monday. Fire officials have no idea where
it came from, she said.

Neither does the Federal Aviation Administration, which
investigates those instances where things fall from
airplanes -- as in May, when parts of a FedEx plane
rained down on Danville.

But this time around, the agency seemed absolutely,
positively nonplussed.

"We don't know if it came from a plane. It's hard to
prove," said FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer.
Received on Tue 11 Apr 2006 07:53:57 PM PDT