SPOKANE - On Tuesday at about 5:30 a.m., Northwest U.S. and Canadian skies lit up with a flash that many experts now agree was a meteor, and it was one of the most viewed events of its kind in this region in decades.

In Spokane, a hospital surveillance camera picked up the streaking object that showered the area in light.

Another hospital security camera in Portland captured the plummeting object.

In Boise, Air National Guard cameras picked it up as it careened toward the Earth and an apparent impact.

It lit up the skies from Canada to Oregon and lit up 911 phone lines everywhere in between.

Everyone described the same thing: Bright lights, beautiful colors and an apparent impact at the end.

Geoff Chester, spokesman for the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., speculated the meteor was the size of a big suitcase and had been orbiting the sun for millions of years before entering Earth's orbit.

A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman in Seattle, Mike Fergus, said a private pilot believes he saw the meteor hit the ground at about 5:45 a.m. Fergus said the pilot reported a flash and a burst of light near State Route 26 and the Lind-Hatton Road in the southeast corner of Adams County in southeastern Washington.

Ray Eickmeyer of Entiat, Wash., told KING 5 he was traveling southbound on Highway 97A when a very large shooting star the color of a green traffic light came down.

Eickmeyer said it looked like the meteor hit the ground just north of Waterville Plateau. Even with his car radio on, Eickmeyer said he could hear the impact. He added he then saw multiple lights flash, about eight or nine times. He described seeing a big hole in the ground.

Adams County Sheriffs deputies told KING 5 they checked it out and found no signs of impact, but the locals know something happened.

"My living room window lit up and I looked out the window and there was a big ball of white... fire it looked like, and then it was gone," said Brad Heider.

"Man, I seen this big flash of light and it was almost blinding," said Elmer Sachman.

KING also received e-mails from viewers in Sequim, Edgewood, Monroe and North Bend, who said they also saw what looked like a fireball or dud firework coming down around 5:30 a.m.

The meteor caused a big fuss and gave people a vivid memory that will last forever, but experts say it's no big deal.

They say we're constantly being bombarded by space debris. Witnesses just got lucky this time.

"It was dark at the time, so people saw it. It was bright, but if it happened during the day time, chances are most people wouldn't even notice it happened," said Jim Todd of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.

Some people even reported feeling the impact of the meteor. If that's the case that's when a meteor becomes a meteorite but until they find it, there's no way to know that's what happened.