Mysterious shaking felt for miles was not an earthquake, Utah experts say

Residents around Salt Lake Valley, Utah reported the Earth shaking on Tuesday, but experts said it wasn’t an earthquake. So what could it be?

The University of Utah Seismograph Stations wrote on Twitter that shaking was reported around 11:20 a.m. and could be a “sonic boom,” which occurs when shock waves are created after something travels in the air faster than the speed of sound.

“While we did pick up some shaking signals, the signal we recorded is consistent with an atmospheric source, such as a sonic boom,” UUSS posted on Twitter. “We are not well equipped to to locate non ground-based events and determine their source.”

People have reported shaking as far as Stansbury Park and Huntsville about the rumble, according to ABC4 News.

The United States Geological Survey also hasn’t reported seismic activity in the area.

A 5.7-magnitude earthquake, the strongest to rattle Utah in 28 years, occurred on March 18 and damaged buildings, KSL reported.

This story was originally published October 27, 2020 at 3:49 PM with the headline "Mysterious shaking felt for miles was not an earthquake, Utah experts say."