Additional Coverage:
A loud, mysterious explosion rattled the Boston area on Saturday afternoon, leaving residents startled and searching for answers. The event occurred around 2:30 p.m. ET, prompting speculation that it may have been caused by a meteor entering Earth’s atmosphere.
Nick Stewart, a spaceflight meteorologist, shared insights on social media, explaining that satellite data detected a significant “flash” east of Boston that did not coincide with any thunderstorms. “This anomalous flash is characteristic of a bolide or meteor reentry and is likely the source of the loud boom,” Stewart noted.
Locals described the noise in vivid terms. Stanley Fung, a Boston resident who captured the sound on video, compared it to a “sonic boom.” Residents in nearby Wellesley reported hearing what sounded like an explosion, with the powerful blast reverberating across a wide area-from Boston to parts of Rhode Island, roughly 70 miles away.
Authorities have not yet confirmed the exact cause of the disturbance, and no official statements have been issued. Meanwhile, some reports of brief electricity outages in the Boston region have surfaced on social media, along with accounts of homes shaking from the force of the sound.
For context, a sonic boom occurs when an object travels through the air faster than the speed of sound, producing a thunderous noise. Similar events have recently been recorded elsewhere, such as in South Carolina earlier this week, where loud explosions near Columbia’s Jim Hamilton-LB Owens Airport were also attributed to possible sonic booms rather than earthquakes.
Residents continue to share their experiences as investigations remain ongoing into the origin of the enigmatic boom that briefly shook Boston this weekend.