Boom Heard Over Western State Saturday Close to Being Solved After National Weather Service Shares Two Big Pixels on Radar
A loud noise audible over much of Utah left citizens seeking answers from their leaders.
The loud “boom” was heard by residents of the Salt Lake City area on Saturday morning, according to KSAZ-TV.
Utah resident Matt Blank captured the moment of the loud disturbance on a home doorbell camera.
Boom video. My money is on high altitude meteor that blew up when it hit the atmosphere. pic.twitter.com/2LmOGkpMXf
— Matt Blank (@msbutah) August 13, 2022
One couple caught their own surprised reaction to the sudden event on camera, revealing how clearly the “boom” was heard.
Forecasters at the National Weather Service said that a loud boom heard around Salt Lake City was likely a meteor hurtling through the air. https://t.co/Ejw8diZnr1 pic.twitter.com/yV2Dc8v9qU
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 13, 2022
The likeliest explanation is pointing to a meteor that entered Earth’s atmosphere in the area, just so happening to strike northern Utah about 8:30 a.m. local time.
Salt Lake City’s division of the National Weather Service detected what it said is the likely trail of the meteor above Utah, at the same time of the sonic boom.
Bolstering the meteor theory for this morning’s #boom in #Utah, the two reddish pixels shown over Davis and Morgan counties are from the GOES-17 Lightning Mapper, but not associated with evidence of thunderstorm activity in satellite or radar. Likely the meteor trail/flash #utwx pic.twitter.com/qRO2Rsfca7
— NWS Salt Lake City (@NWSSaltLakeCity) August 13, 2022
The boom heard by locals could’ve come at the moment the meteor broke the sound barrier in its descent to the Earth.
A Utah resort captured camera footage of the extraterrestrial object streaking through the atmosphere.
WOW! ☄️ @SnowbasinResort captured this amazing video of the meteor that sent a loud boom over northern Utah on Saturday. Its tail was seen only for a few seconds as it shot through the sky.
More info: https://t.co/flGoIkCTHH pic.twitter.com/0nbwr36kb7
— KUTV2news (@KUTV2News) August 13, 2022
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said that the sonic boom wasn’t the result of a military operation or an earthquake in a Saturday tweet, suggesting that a meteor was the most likely explanation.
Heard this while out on a run in SLC. We have confirmed it was not seismic/earthquake and not related to our military instillations. This is likely the best theory. https://t.co/mEGfjtveNE
— Spencer Cox (@SpencerJCox) August 13, 2022
The boom over Utah came in the midst of the annual Perseid meteor shower, spurred by Earth’s transit through a field of comet debris, according to space.com.
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