earthquake or giant sonic boom just now in Orange County, CA

Meteor impact.

Spaceweather.com explains the sonic boom. TipKat

SIERRA FIREBALL DECODED: On Sunday morning, April 22nd, just as the Lyrid meteor shower was dying down, a spectacular fireball exploded over California's Sierra Nevada mountain range. The loud explosion rattled homes from central California to Reno, Nevada, and beyond. According to Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Envronment Office, the source of the blast was a meteoroid about the size of a minivan.

"Elizabeth Silber at Western University has searched for infrasound signals from the explosion," says Cooke. "Infrasound is very low frequency sound which can travel great distances. There were strong signals at 2 stations, enabling a triangulation of the energy source at 37.6N, 120.5W. This is marked by a yellow flag in the map below."



"The energy is estimated at a whopping 3.8 kilotons of TNT, so this was a big event," he continues. "I am not saying there was a 3.8 kiloton explosion on the ground in California. I am saying that the meteor possessed this amount of energy before it broke apart in the atmosphere. [The map] shows the location of the atmospheric breakup, not impact with the ground."

"The fact that sonic booms were heard indicates that this meteor penetrated very low in atmosphere, which implies a speed less than 15 km/s (33,500 mph). Assuming this value for the speed, I get a mass for the meteor of around 70 metric tons. Hazarding a further guess at the density of 3 grams per cubic centimeter (solid rock), I calculate a size of about 3-4 meters, or about the size of a minivan."

"This meteor was probably not a Lyrid; without a trajectory, I cannot rule out a Lyrid origin, but I think it likely that it was a background or sporadic meteor."

[link to spaceweather.com]

I believe the "OP" and some other are owed an apology by some of the people on this forum. They accused them of making things up.

Wasn't made up. Not sure I buy the explanation either. But never the less the "OP" and others did indeed hear something.

Maybe a Hillary-ous orgasm...:
sockpuppet:

[link to gma.yahoo.com]

Yahoo news another explanation.
Tip

Interesting.


Z

Oh yes. I remember the National Geographic documentary on this area. It was about examining new technologies to possibly predict earthquakes and this area failed to comply.

Everyone be ready with all of your earthquake emergency gear...which if you live in California I'm sure you already are, and I pray that even if there is a large earthquake that there will be no harm to anyone. I think we've seen enough tragedy here in America and worldwide since the beginning of this year and I'm sure we all could use a break from doom.

My brother lives in Southern California and I always worry about him.

Last Edited by Éireann on 04/23/2012 07:06 PM

bolded for emphasis because people seem to be confused.

The "meteor" event was Sunday 4/22 in the north-central part of California, reportedly felt from west of Sacramento to the Lake Tahoe/Reno, Nevada area.

The 3.9 earthquake mentioned by OP was today, Monday 4/23, in Southern California (centered near Laguna Niguel in Orange County).

[link to earthquake.usgs.gov]

Thread: booms-fireballs-sulfur-national parks.......

[link to thewatchers.adorraeli.com]

I live on the Outer Banks of NC on the East Coast and we had a HUGE sonic boom around 10:45 - 11:00 today 4/23/2012 that shook my house and spooked my dogs to run inside.

I just moved up north from the OC. They been due for one down there

Oh it was in Laguna Niguel..nice. Very unstable land.

yea interesting but NOT todays quake that is the discussion here.

The quake was on a thrust fault, rare since most quakes in SO. Cal are on strike slip. The Northridge was a thrust quake, hence the widespread damage for a medium sized quake.

Strike slip = side to side

Thrust = Up OR Down

Last Edited by Proskiracer on 04/23/2012 07:42 PM

Everything blew up at work today. Computer problems.. couldn't log on for an hour... Wonder what up.

Yup ....sonic BOOM! Could be felt in Long Beach. Not like a normal quake....it was over as it started.

the 'booms' and any minor earthquakes are entirely unconnected.

Incorrect, read my post on Page 2.

I'm about 5 miles away from the epicenter.

It was a nice little shake. The dog had been acting funny all morning. He's 100 lbs. He crawled in a chair with me and wanted to be held about a half hour before it hit.

Having grown up in So Cal, the whole thing is, when a quake starts you don't know how big it's going to be.

You wait about 15 seconds, if it continues to build and get worse after that, you know it's a biggie.

What most people don't talk about is the sound. A big quake is loud. It's a LOUD low rumble.

This one was big enough to get your attention. The ground moved and house shook. But it was just a drive-by. It lasted about 10 sec and that was it.

Thank you, AC, for your clear and articulate description.

/tomato plants out or in? Inquiring minds want to know!

The tomato plants are remaining outside - to avoid the house collapsing on them.

Glad to see someone from the East Coast responding on here as today, here in NY around 2pm. Just one loud Boom, rattling of windows, and a very short duration of vibration felt through the building, then nothing. Have not heard anything else since or for that matter before today. We had a light rain this morning, and when this occurred, cloudy out but no rain or thunder at all. This was something I have never heard before. It seemed to come from everywhere at once. I could not pinpoint direction or location, unlike thunder. Stay safe everyone.

Thanks AC 242...

That is pretty much what happened at our house.

As I said before, we are about 5-7 miles away from epicenter and in the foothills. I'm not sure what kind of ground you are on (bedrock or softer soil/sand) but this, or any, quake can feel a little different depending on where you are.

I've lived in Southern California all of my life, and have ridden out the larger quakes along with the many many small ones. This one in particular was a little different than what I have experienced before. Usually, there is a little hiccup, then rolling, to shaking, then back to rolling, and hopefully done.

This one started off with a SHARP jolt (where I am). No little rolling warning at all. Maybe because it was a sudden wave, there was a "booming" sound with this one, along with the wooden house frame creaking/groaning/popping. Yes windows rattled, but the whole house jumped. Not a sonic boom for sure.

Everyone complaining that it was only a 3.9 have a point. This one particular event is no big deal on it's face. It really was a little different though.

Given the location, and this fault being described as 10 months pregnant, I'm a little worried.

Edit: Give your dog a hug. My big cat has been acting very strange since yesterday. Being a Maine Coon, he's usually very cool and confident. Not so much for the last 24 hours. I even said out loud, "what's up with you? Is there going to be a quake buddy?"

Last Edited by ntlatp on 04/23/2012 09:07 PM

Southport/Bald Head Island reporting in.

Heard it too.

The pants were shitted in.

I'm in San Gabriel too (Pasadena) and nothing here.

About how long did the quake last?

Anyone expecting 2012 EQs to feel like typical EQs needs to remember that its 2 0 1 2