Fireball over Elk River, MN

The report, as filed

June 3rd, 2017 @ 11:20PM. The 2 Witnesses (Father & Daughter) were traveling westbound on County Road 30, on the west edge of Elk River, Minnesota, just over 1-2 miles before the city border line between Elk River & Big Lake. Upon crossing the 4-way stop intersection of Joplin Street & County Road 30, the unidentified object suddenly appeared in our view (where the speed limit picks up from the 30mph zone before the intersection, to a 45mph zone after the intersection). The object appeared suddenly in the wide open clear sky, at a 1 o'clock position from our westbound direction of travel. The object would be best described as a VERY BRIGHT ORANGE "fireball" without a discernible shape, surrounded in a wavering BRIGHT orange "aura." The object was very low in the sky, as the few trees we passed along the north (right) hand side of County Road 30 initially obscured our view somewhat. I would estimate the altitude of the object to have been no more than 200-300 feet off the ground at the *very* most. County Road 30 runs east/west parallel, next to and along the Mississippi river along that stretch, on the north hand side of the Mississippi river. Distance from the intersection of Joplin&30, to the Pinewood Golf Course on Waco Street NW, is between 1-2 miles. When the "fireball" suddenly appeared it was only that distance ahead of us, just a bit north of the golf course, almost directly over top of Highway 10. Highway 10 also runs the same parallel east/west as County Road 30 and the Mississippi river, just a few blocks north of County Road 30. A little more than half way from the Joplin/30 intersection to the Waco/30 intersection, is the Sherburne County Government Center to our right (north), located along the south side of Highway 10. By the time we had traveled (1 mile) westbound on County Road 30, and were directly south of the Sherburne County Government Center (which was directly to our right, north) the object had already slowly and erratically moved a little southward and was now right over the golf course on Waco Street NW. We could clearly see the "fireball" had been moving southward, and was continuing to move southward. However, the object did NOT move at a steady speed. Instead, it was moving only a little south at a time at random intervals, stopping periodically in the sky. Also, with each southward movement, it randomly would travel to a somewhat higher and sometimes lower altitude in the sky. (Note: County Road 30 along that stretch is perfectly straight for a few miles, and perfectly flat. NO rises or falls in the road.) When we reached Waco Street, we turned onto Waco, and I immediately stopped the car to view the object which was nearly above us at that point. We clearly observed from the roadside stopped as the object continued its random erratic traveling southward in short movements changing altitude up & down also with each movement, for just shy of 2 more minutes. Also, throughout the duration of the sighting the "fireball" somewhat randomly increased and decreased in brightness. Each time it moved mostly the brightness increased. Each time it paused in the sky mostly the brightness decreased. All the while it maintained being the absolutely brightest object by *far* in the entire sky, other than the moon of course which was to the south (left) of us. Then the object, after being viewed from our stopped position at Waco & 30 for nearly 2 minutes, suddenly vanished, as instantly as it had appeared in the first place. At the time it finally disappeared in the clear open sky, it had traveled southward enough to had crossed over the Mississippi river to the south side of the river. From beginning to end, from Joplin/30 intersection to the time it disappeared south of the river, the entire sighting had lasted between 4-5 minutes.

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #134431). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.