Navy: Weather amplified sonic boom that rattled Delmarva
A loud boom was heard (and felt) on the Shore shortly before 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 5.
Social media was immediately buzzing about the phenomenon from Ocean Pines to Bethany Beach.
Late Thursday afternoon, the mystery was solved.
"That was us," said Pat Gordon, public affairs officer for the Patuxent Naval Air Station.
He said a restricted airspace known as the Atlantic Warning Area, a Department of Defense "test track" for supersonic aircraft, runs parallel to the Delmarva Peninsula. The AWA is an important tool in maintaining the readiness of combat pilots in high-speed maneuvers. Because the Pentagon is very concerned about minimizing the impact of these tests on civilians and inhabited areas, the "track" is miles offshore and requires special permission before any craft can break the sound barrier.
Patuxent had a Naval air squadron on maneuvers on the track late Wednesday, Gordon said. Permission was given by higher command elements to go supersonic sometime between 4:30 and 5 p.m.
Atmospheric conditions can change unexpectedly and rapidly. Sudden changes in temperature or humidity can create a condition in which upper layers of the atmosphere reflect sound downward and amplify it.
In fact, the humidity stirred up by Hurricane Matthew could do just that.
"You probably heard and felt a terrific crash about that time," Gordon said. "It's just normal flight testing, it only sounds (and feels) catastrophic due to the weather conditions."
LOOKING BACK: Navy says clear skies amplified sonic boom
The Ocean Pines Police Department reported that it received two calls about the sound, but their searches turned up no likely cause.
Many of the commenters on the Ocean City and Bethany locals Facebook page said it shook their homes and scared the animals. A few reported seeing jets fly over. Many wrote that they heard the boom in Berlin, Assateague, Ocean View and Ocean City, and farther inland.
Tom Barry, of Bethany Beach, wrote on Facebook that he thought it was a sonic boom.
"Shook the house in Frankford, closer to Ocean View," Jonathan Halt wrote on Facebook.
"Yes it was soooo loud," wrote Susan Clark, of Ocean View. "My house shook in Ocean View."
Over in Ocean City, Lynn Smith Bender wrote that it actually rumbled.
"Worst one ever in North OC," Bender wrote.
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Melinda Clarke in Ocean View reported something similar by email.
"Absolutely heard and felt it," she said. "The house shook, the windows rattled, and I felt the percussion in my chest. I dove to the floor thinking something had exploded and the house was going to fall in around me."
Jenn Kush at Sea Colony in Bethany Beach found it startling too.
"I heard a loud noise, almost like an explosion, outside and my entire house shook," Kush said by email. "I thought it was perhaps a lightning strike nearby ... Since there was no evidence of a storm I started googling earthquakes."
Barbara Freimuth, who lives in Bishopville, said the area around her house magnifies thunder and sonic booms when they occur.
"Not only did we hear it, we felt it and our house shook," she said. "My first thought ... was that it was a pile driver pounding."