[meteorite-list] Sonic Boom in England?

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed Sep 22 13:19:24 2004
Message-ID: <200409221719.KAA09062_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/north_east/3679238.stm

Sonic boom theory for 'explosion'
BBC News
September 22, 2004

A loud explosion which sent residents running for cover has been heard
in Wales for the second time in less than a week.

Windows and homes shook in areas of Denbighshire and Conwy at around
17.50BST on Tuesday.

North Wales Police received calls from worried residents who thought
there had been an earthquake.

Last week people living in Llandrindod Wells in Powys reported a similar
incident.

An official from the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh said the
signal they had picked up from both reports was consistent with being of
sonic origin rather than an earthquake - possibly from an aircraft over
the sea.

I ran out of the house with my husband and we thought the explosion
store in the quarry had blown
Sue Coleman

The loud bang was heard from Rhyl in the east to Conwy in the west, and
several miles inland from Abergele.

Chris Roberts from Prestatyn said she had been out walking her dog when
she heard the explosion.

"My poor dog nearly jumped out of his skin," she said.

"I was walking the dog at about 10 to six and I heard this almighty boom.

"It was loud and I wondered if there'd been an accident."

Sue Coleman lives a few miles away near Llysfaen quarry in Colwyn Bay,
she said the noise was so loud she thought the quarry had exploded.

"Everyday we have explosions at the quarry but this was the biggest
explosion I have ever heard," she said.

Sonic boom

"I ran out of the house with my husband and we thought the explosion
store in the quarry had blown.

"The house shook worse than I've ever known," she added.

Glenn Ford, a seismologist with the British Geological Survey in
Edinburgh, said they had had no signals "consistent with an earthquake
in the area".

"The small earthquakes are very similar to effects observed by sonic
booms," he said.

"It could have been caused by an aircraft, they can do fast turns and
the wing can go supersonic," he added.

However, Lois Demack said she regularly attends air shows and the noise
did not sound like a sonic boom to her.

"I was visiting a doctor's in Meliden and there was a big bang...I was
expecting the mountain to come down behind us," she said.

"I go to air shows so I didn't think it was a sonic boom," she added.
Received on Wed 22 Sep 2004 01:19:19 PM PDT