💥Loud booms shook homes across Atlantic, Cape May, and Ocean counties

💥Officials say supersonic military test flights likely caused the noise

💥Some feared a meteor explosion but experts say that was unrelated to the booms

Supersonic military test flights identified as likely cause

The mystery of loud booms heard by many along the Jersey Shore has been solved.

Many posted to the Cape May Live Facebook group booms heard in Atlantic, Cape May and Ocean counties early Tuesday afternoon. Some said it felt like an earthquake while others thought it might be a gusty wind.

• “We are in CH and it shook the house pretty good,” one woman commented.
• “Yes, I felt it in Avalon~shook the whole place,” another woman wrote.
• “Felt it 3 times in a row,” one person wrote.
• “I felt it in Wildwood. My house shook,” read another comment.
• “We felt it in Rio Grande,” read a comment.

Public affairs officer Patrick Gordon from NAS Patuxent in Maryland told New Jersey 101.5 that aircraft from the base performed supersonic test flight operations early Tuesday afternoon in the test track about 3 miles east of the New Jersey coast.

“Any sonic booms in the area Tuesday were likely a result of the NAS Pax River flight operation,” Gordon said.

Meteor rumors spread after a separate fireball event

The “test track” is a designated area managed by NAS Patuxent that goes as far south as the Delmarva Peninsula. New Jersey 101.5 Chief Meteorologist Dan Zarrow says that atmospheric conditions can create an inversion layer that push the sound downward, causing the sonic boom to be heard at ground level.

Some speculated it was related to a 7-ton meteor that sped across the sky at 45,000 miles per hour on Tuesday. The American Meteor Society said it received reports from Wisconsin to Maryland. NASA later confirmed that it was a meteor nearly 6 feet in diameter.

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