What Would Really Happen if an Asteroid Hit Quincy, Illinois

I've always figured if we were in the crosshairs of an incoming asteroid, we'd be goners. I've learned that I was kind of wrong. A simulation allows us to find out what would really happen if an asteroid were to hit Quincy, Illinois.

There is a website/app called Killer Asteroids. It allows you to "drop a rock on someone". (*ahem*) The simulation is interesting. It allows you to pick a location and see what the blast radius would be if it were hit by a small, medium or large asteroid. It's not as bad as you think. Well, actually it really is.

I have made our radio stations at 24th and Broadway in Quincy as ground zero. First, I chose a small asteroid. This is what the impact zone would look like. The simulator says this type of event happens once ever 1,000 years. Spoiler Alert: everyone from 8th to 36th Street is going to have a very bad day.

What about a medium-sized asteroid? That will mean Quincy would be a smoking hole basically. Palmyra, Canton and Hannibal would also see a blinding flash, then shockwave, then it's the worst part of Terminator 2.

The large asteroid scenario is not quite extinction-level-event, but it's close.

For fun (really not an appropriate word), I compared a large asteroid to a large comet and...you really better hope we don't get hit by a comet.

Along with steel buildings being knocked over and all of us on fire, the comet impact would cause a 7.0 earthquake. Hello, New Madrid.

You can experiment with scenarios yourself and put your home address in and see what becomes smoldering rubble through the Killer Asteroids website/app. Note: if we see Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck getting in space shuttles, we'll let you know.