UPDATE: Mysterious bright flash lights up night sky over parts of B.C., Alberta

People from the West Coast to as far east as Calgary are puzzling over a bright flash they saw light up the sky on Monday night.

Jimmy-Lee Vennard was soaking in a friend's outdoor hot tub in southwest Calgary when he saw what seemed to be a falling star just after 11 p.m.

Vennard, who works as a butler at a posh estate hotel outside the city, is used to seeing falling stars streak across the sky on clear summer nights.

But the giant ball of light he saw Monday was like nothing he'd ever witnessed.

"It was insane," he said. "It lit up the neighbourhood … and then it just disappeared."

Mounties across British Columbia answered dozens of calls about a possible meteorite strike. Reports came in from the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island and from Nelson and the Okanagan Valley in the Interior.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Troy Gross said it's a little out of the ordinary for so many people across such a large area to call about a single thing.

"Of course we have no idea what it is, but I'm assuming it's probably a meteor shower. It's obviously bright enough for people all over to see it."

Numerous people in B.C. took to social media to report hearing a sonic boom and seeing a fireball.

One Twitter user said a house in Nelson shook, while another reported a bright flash followed by a large bang about four minutes later.

To the east in Creston, a resident reported seeing a huge green flash in the sky followed by an orange fireball and then a sonic boom that shook the house.

Alberta RCMP Cpl. Curtis Peters said there was one call Monday night from High River, south of Calgary, and two from the Crowsnest Pass with its cluster of towns nestled in the Rocky Mountains right by the B.C. boundary.

Peters said one of the callers from the Crowsnest area said the fireball appeared to be moving westward over the Livingstone mountain range.

The American Meteor Society has a post on its website complete with a map of the locations of sightings of the so-called the British Columbia Fireball.

— With files from CKNW and News1130

Well, that was different: while sitting on a patio in #NelsonBC the entire sky lit up and a meteorite came down. Huge boom about 1m later.

— Kevin Skrepnek (@KevinSkrepnek) September 5, 2017

Some folks have asked for comment, so: #MeteorWatch2017 pic.twitter.com/1NbQqWJhkj

— Kevin Skrepnek (@KevinSkrepnek) September 5, 2017