A sonic boom rattled the Midlands on Thursday evening, sending people across Columbia and nearby counties searching for an explanation. Emergency officials later confirmed the noise was a sonic boom, but by Friday the cause was still unclear.
The reports piled up fast. The United States Geological Survey logged the boom late Thursday evening, while WIS said it heard from people in Columbia, West Columbia and counties beyond the city, including Darlington and Chesterfield. Viewers also sent in videos showing animals running and people flinching at the sound. On Friday, WIS asked experts what could create such a sharp blast, and one of the first answers points readers to the same question seen in Sonic Boom South Carolina: Experts weigh in as cause remains unclear and Sonic Boom Columbia Sc Felt Across Midlands, USGS Says.
For Pamela Alford, the noise cut straight through an ordinary night at home in West Columbia. “In my house, relaxing when all of a sudden we get this big boom and some vibration — and I’m like, ok, God is on his way,” she said. Mariana Espido, who heard it in Columbia, said it was “very fast.” Those reactions matched the widespread response from a region that felt the sound at nearly the same time, then tried to figure out where it came from.
The explanation may be simpler in physics than in practice. Professor Erin Beutel said anything moving faster than the air can get out of the way creates a band of compressed air that moves away from the object, and that band is what people hear as a sonic boom. She said it could be caused by a jet, a meteorite or even space junk. It could also travel strangely, she said, bouncing between warm and cold air so that some people hear it a few moments apart.
What officials have ruled out is just as important as what they have not identified. Fort Jackson, Shaw Air Force Base and McEntire Air National Guard said the boom did not come from any military operation, narrowing the field without solving the mystery. WIS also asked NASA for comment and had not received a response, leaving the source of the sound unresolved even after it had been publicly confirmed.
For now, the Midlands is left with the same unanswered question that reached across Columbia and beyond on Thursday evening: something broke the sound barrier over the region, but no one has yet said what it was.
