From: Mike Jones <hookpilot [at] msn.com>
Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2002 18:53:30 -0800
Subject: Saw it from Mineral Wells, Texas

The 1966 Leonid storm will always remain a natural wonder I'll never forget,
the night the sky rained fire!

I was in Army Primary Flight School at Fort Wolters near Mineral Wells,
Texas at the time.  I didn't know it was going to happen as I sat on the
steps of the barracks shining my boots. I had just arrived at Wolters the
month before and was totally unprepared for what I saw. I was 20 at the
time. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I noticed meteors streaking down at
an alarming rate. I ran back in the barracks and soon had a bunch of us all
staring up into the night sky. Mineral Wells is not a a big place, so we had
a very dark sky.  The rate picked up very rapidly and soon we were seeing
dozens of meteors every second. The effect was similar to watching
snowflakes race at your windshield while driving in a snowstorm! Very
intense.  

It was a spectacle I'll never forget. While working at Bishop Museum in
Honolulu many years later in 1999, we set up to watch the Leonids roar again
and were skunked by bad weather (imagine that in Hawaii) but did see some
brilliant fireballs that exploded above a scattered cloud layer. The flashes
of light were so intense that they cast shadows even through the clouds! We
went out again for the 2000 and 2001 showers and got a count of ZHR of
457/hr near sunrise during the 2001 fall.

Mike Jones
Shelton, Washington
Honolulu, Hawaii