This
mysterious phenomenon is one that has been observed in multiple
locations across North America
Unexplained
boom baffles experts
Noise
heard in several counties may go unsolved.
20
March, 2013
The
mystery of the “loud boom” heard in parts of the region over the
weekend may go unsolved as efforts to find the source of the boom
proved a bust Monday.
Hundreds
of people in at least four counties — Franklin, Hamilton, Saline
and Williamson — flocked to social media to report hearing a
windows-rattling, earth-shaking boom between 1 and 2 p.m. Saturday.
No
damages or injuries were reported as a result of the boom.
“I
have no way of knowing exactly what occurred but it was not likely an
earthquake,” geophysicist Don Blakeman of the National Earthquake
Information Center said. “There is nothing on our lists, only the
last one on the 11th (near Benton).”
Some
earthquakes are heard as well as felt, he said, but if it was so
widespread as to be heard in four counties, “We would be able to
locate it as an earthquake,” he said. “Typically, when loud booms
are heard it turns out to be a sonic boom, although I’m not saying
that’s what it was in this instance.”
However,
if the boom was sonic in nature, it wasn’t caused by military
action. Neither Scott Air Force Base nor the North American Aerospace
Defense Command reported activity taking place in the region
Saturday.
“We
were not in that area with any of our assets,” a NORAD spokesman
said.
A
Scott Air Force spokeswoman confirmed no Scott or military-related
activities or exercises took place in Southern Illinois over the
weekend.
The
boom was not weather-related, according to meteorologist Robin Smith
of the National Weather Service in Paducah said.
Nor
was it related to any coal mining activity, a spokeswoman for the
Illinois Office of Mines and Minerals said.
The
swarm of social media postings caused Franklin County Emergency
Management Agency Director Ryan Buckingham to make his own post on
the agency’s Facebook page.
“Residents
in Franklin County are reporting what was described as a
‘ground-shaking loud boom’ during the day on Saturday 3/16/2013.
USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) has not reported any earthquake
activity in our area during that time, leaving the cause of these
reports as somewhat of a mystery,” Buckingham wrote.
The
mystery was not cleared up by Monday, he said.
“We
picked it up first on social media. A lot of people heard it but
didn’t have a source for it,” Buckingham said. “I put a feeler
out on Facebook because if there is a threat to public safety, that’s
something we need to know about it, but no one had any idea what
caused it.”
While
the source of the boom has yet to be traced, Buckingham said it
should serve as a reminder for residents to have a plan in place in
case of emergency.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.