Loud sonic boom heard and felt by hundreds across parts of New England
Meteor with "loud boom" seen and heard around Ohio and Pennsylvania: NWS
A loud boom heard the morning of March 17, 2026, around Ohio and Pennsylvania was caused by a meteor, according to the National Weather Service. Video: Jared Rackley/NWS Pittsburgh / NOAA
A loud, sonic boom echoed across parts of New England on Saturday, just days after an eerily similar event startled people in South Carolina, raising a familiar question: What was that?
While people in at least New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island heard a loud noise around 2:05 p.m. local time, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geostationary Lightning Mapper may have actually captured evidence of its cause on radar.
NOAA’s GOES-19 CONUS imagery, including data from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM), captured an unusual signal at the time the reported boom occurred. In this screen grab, off the coast of Cape Cod on the right side of the image, the largest
NOAA's GOES-19 Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) detected an unusual signal near the coast of Cape Cod at the time the sonic boom was reported.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the widely felt sonic boom reported at 2:05 p.m. was caused by a "suspected bolide", a meteor that exploded in the atmosphere.
The anomaly, visible in a satellite screen grab as a distinct, irregularly shaped detection, indicated a brief fireball entering the atmosphere, NASA said.
According to NASA, the meteor met a dramatic end about 40 miles above northeastern Massachusetts and southeastern New Hampshire. As it broke apart, it released energy equivalent to nearly 300 tons of TNT that produced a loud enough boom to startle the region and spark the ever important question: "What was that?"
The U.S. Geological Survey did not report seismic activity or any earthquakes, ruling out one potential explanation.
"Although we do not yet know the cause, there are no known emergency police or fire requests connected to these reports, and we do not believe there is any public safety threat," the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety in a post on X.
According to the National Weather Service in Boston, nothing has been confirmed, but early indications suggest the object may have been a meteorite. However, NASA has not yet verified that possibility.
Security cameras across the region recorded the startling boom, while first responders and emergency management officials quickly took to social media to acknowledge residents, with authorities saying there is no indication of a threat to the public.
A loud boom was reported across parts of New England, including Boston, around 2:10 p.m. local time. ( Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images)
The Sonic Boom comes just days after a similar incident startled residents across South Carolina's Midlands region.
The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed Thursday's home-shaking sound in South Carolina was a sonic boom, though the source of the event has yet to be identified.
ALASKA LANDSLIDE UNLEASHED ONE OF THE LARGEST TSUNAMIS EVER RECORDED, NEW STUDY SHOWS
While investigators continue to examine what caused Thursday's noise, today's latest report adds another chapter to a string of startling booms in the eastern United States.