"columbia" passed over california at 8:53. video shows flashes happening and an unusual trail left behind "columbia", which even hobbyist watchers saw as out of the ordinary. at this point, the temperature of the damaged part of the wing was around 3,000°f (1,650°c). by 8:58 "columbia", still moving at incredible speeds, crossed from new mexico into texas, at which point it began shedding debris. by this point several temperature sensors in the damaged left wing had stopped working, and one of the flight controllers reported that the tyre pressure sensors on that side were reporting "off scale low"- meaning that it is a reading that falls below the minimum capability of the sensor, and it usually indicates that the sensor has stopped functioning, due to internal or external factors, not that the quantity it measures is actually below the sensor's minimum response value.