Object explodes entering the atmosphere.

The first Wednesday of September 1992, a friend and I were disassembling a satellite dish just outside of Ashland, Oregon.  At twilight, I noticed a bright object in the southern sky moving slowly east to west.  I pointed it out to my friend.  As we watched the object it began to leave a tail like a comet.  I realized something was entering the atmosphere from space and friction was heating it up causing the tail.  The object got very bright and the tail very long when suddenly the object exploded.  It created the most amazing display not unlike a firework only much larger.  The explosion made a spherical pattern of particles tens of miles wide that twinkled brightly and then dissipated .
I contacted air traffic control at the Medford Airport and San Francisco Airport.  They said there was no record of any such event.  If ATC missed it their radar was malfunctioning. That's not likely, but lying about their records wouldn't surprise me.