Message posted by Jason S on February 03, 2021 at 12:23:31 PST:
Something peculiar happened in my area this morning. A large "boom" was heard by residents (including me) in the southern part of the Kansas City metro. No injuries or damage was reported. No fire or smoke columns were seen. Reports narrowed down the "source" of the boom to an area of roughly 3x2.5 miles (about 7.5 square miles). A news helicopter was dispatched and searched the area, but did not find any evidence from the air of anything unusual on the ground. Some are speculating that it was a sonic boom. Recently, Kansas made news when it was announced that a new supersonic corridor will be activated in the coming years. This corridor will be in the far southern part of the state, nowhere near where the boom was reported this morning. Whatever happened this morning is in no way connected to the future corridor. I've never personally heard a sonic boom, so my question is: Is it possible that a sonic boom from something..."unpublished" could be heard over such a confined area? What are the factors that determine how and where sonic booms are heard? In all likelihood, something on the ground exploded where no one was around, and we just haven't seen it yet. I'm just wondering how far-fetched the sonic boom speculation is.
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