Once again, loud boom shakes portion of South Jersey

Residents in South Jersey experienced shaking and felt a loud boom Thursday morning, according to multiple media reports.

The Press of Atlantic City reports that residents in Atlantic and Cape May counties experienced the incident around 9:30 a.m.

The United States Geological Survey did not register any earthquakes in the region. NJ.com reported that jets from New Jersey National Guard’s 177th Fighter Wing, which flies from Atlantic City International Airport in Egg Harbor, were not flying at the time.

On Twitter, Frank Intessimoni reported to the Press of Atlantic City’s Joe Martucci that his house in Hammonton experienced “three shakes over five to seven seconds.”

As reported by Jersey Shore Hurricane News as far back as 2012 through 2017, mysterious booms and shakes were sometimes pinned on sonic booms generated by military aircraft.

In January 2017, at the same time a boom was felt and heard, Naval Air Station Patuxent River reported that the Maryland installation’s Joint Strike Fighter Program F-35 jet cleared to “go supersonic” off the South Jersey coast.

A sonic boom is a sound associated with shock waves created by an object traveling faster than the speed of sound. Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of energy, sounding much like an explosion.

In late January 2016, residents from the southern Jersey Shore to Long Island, New York felt the sensation.

At the time, USAF Defense Press Officer Lt. Col. Tom Crosson told WHYY that the F-35C jet was training offshore from the Delmarva Peninsula when the sonic booms occurred.

“Test aircraft from the naval air station execute supersonic flights almost daily in the test track, and most of these sonic booms are never felt on land. However, under certain atmospheric conditions there is an increased potential to hear the sound,” he said.