March 19 rumblings in South Jersey, along the coast in Delaware and in Virginia result of sonic booms from military jets and are thus no longer a mystery. The loud rumbling noises were created by military jets flying from the Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland and breaking the sound barrier over an offshore area called the “Racetrack”. This is at least what officials want us to believe.
Initial reports of loud noises and windows rattling in the region March 19 could neither be linked to an earthquake nor to military training from nearby bases.
Jets typically are not allowed to break the sound barrier over inhabited region except in a defined air space, nicknamed “The Racetrack,” which is controlled by the U.S. Department of Defense and runs from Ocean City, Md., to Atlantic City.
As already introduced in previous posts, several factors can influence sonic booms: weight, size, and shape of the aircraft or vehicle, its altitude, attitude and flight path, and weather or atmospheric conditions. The distance it travels depends on the altitude of the jets, which results in a “boom carpet” — equivalent to one mile for each 1,000 feet of altitude. Colder weather allows the sound waves to travel farther in shorter amounts of time and consequently, the likelihood of feeling the supersonic effects are higher from November to April. The distance of the waves traveling acts a bit the way thunder does. It travels as sound waves and the wind speed and direction can carry it farther out.
The reason why sonic booms are not registered on equipment set to pick up seismic activity is because those instruments are farther underground. They do not put much energy into the ground and so the energy is not transferred into detectable waves for the instruments.
I’m in Delaware (New Castle). I heard the sound in the evening but I’m not sure of the date. It was dark already.The house shook and the dogs went crazy. I thought a tree had fallen on the house. It wasn’t storming. I know it wasn’t thunder. At first I thought it was an earthquake but it didn’t last very long. Just one BOOM.
thank you!
I was home during this “sonic boom” and just to show that the explanation is skeptical at best I’d like to explain the construction of my home. The outer walls of my home are 12″ thick and made of concrete, lined on the inside of the concrete is 4″ thick foam insulation pads. The house is rectangular and the four walls are all uniform. The windows are all double paned, heavy duty storm windows with sound proofing qualities, while the do not completely block all noise they do a remarkable job keeping out the heavy traffic noise and even the sounds of lawn mowers operating directly outside the windows. I live roughly 25-30 miles from Atlantic City and if the “racetrack” comes no farther than AC then they explanation is obviously misleading.
On that day in March our extremely thick and well insulated walls shook so much that a picture was actually thrown to the floor and the rumble could be felt through our furniture. A neighbor had a window broken and the screen was shook loose from another.
In conclusion I would have to say that the explanation given is suspect at best and nefarious in my opinion. I have no way of explaining what it was that happened that and two other as a matter of fact but it has become a sort of pet project for me as far as finding at least a plausible explanation to these “booms”
[…] Read more […]
I doubt they were sonic booms, based on the above video, the woman says stuff was moving around in her home, and that it felt like it was coming from the ground. I also have no reason to believe the military sonic boom explaination, as they did Not take Responsibilty Immediately, and actually had No Input whatsoever, Before or Right After the booms, which should have been issued Immedietly to ease the residents fear and concern throughout these communities and actually should have been given Ahead of time, with specific to the hour times to listen for the coming booms…Compare the explaination of the nature of sonic booms, as given above and as follows:
“sonic booms ….. They do not put much energy into the ground and so the energy is not transferred into detectable waves for the instruments.”
However, the woman said she felt it coming from underground Plus, the phenomena was So Energetic it was moving physical items around in here house?!?
None of the “sonic booms ” explaination adds up ( to me anyway)
according to the information here in this post…
Most all these nationwide booms remain in the “it’s a mystery” abyss”,
along with this one, in my opinion.