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Did You Hear Booms and Shakes in Ocean County?
The ground shook and a boom was heard by many residents in south and central New Jersey on the afternoon of Tuesday, February 8th.
A number of counties reported strange tremors and noises.
Reddit members in Burlington, Middlesex, Salem, Ocean, Cape May, Camden, and Mercer counties reported feeling the shaking on Tuesday afternoon; others stated it happened multiple times.
This enigmatic occurrence triggered a day of discussion and speculation: What was that, exactly?
"As far as we are aware," the
National Weather Service claimed the sound and sensation were unrelated to the weather. In addition, the
USGS has not detected any earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more anywhere in New Jersey on Tuesday.
It's possible that a hint to the explanation can be found in the past. This isn't the first time this has happened; nj.com reported in 2016, a sonic boom shook parts of the Jersey shore, according to the USGS.
According to
NASA, a sonic boom is "a thunder-like noise heard by people on the ground when an aircraft or other sort of aerospace vehicle flies overhead faster than the speed of sound, or "supersonic."
The sound and sensation were also covered by media outlets such as the
Cape May County Herald, the
Press of Atlantic City, and
NJ.com.
According to the Herald, the Federal Aviation Administration has no record of a sonic boom on Tuesday.
A naval air station in Maryland occasionally conducts drills southwest of Cape May County, which can result in sonic booms. There were no supersonic flights in the vicinity Tuesday, according to a station representative who spoke to all three stations.
According to NJ.com, the Air Force facility in Burlington County has not issued a comment regarding any supersonic flights or tests.
The Cape May County Herald was advised by spokespeople at Atlantic City Air National Base, Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia, and Dover Air Force Base in Delaware that no supersonic flights were scheduled.
