Explosion

[seekermeister]

There was a single loud crack a few minutes ago, that at first I thought must have been a very close lightening strike, but when I noticed that there were no more, and when I looked outside, and saw that it was dry, I went to the satellite images of the NWS and saw that even though there were a few very light returns nearby, none appeared strong enough for lightening.

I guess that something must have blown up, but since I don't receive live TV, I guess that I will have to wait for a while to find out.

 

[johnwillyums]

Can't you access any live streamed news where you are? Or a local blog?

 

[seekermeister]

Not that I'm aware of. I do have a radio that would probably do the job, but I'm in the middle of another issue at the moment, and haven't had time.

 

[fseal]

Clear air lightning is possible. It comes "out of nowhere" (can't hear a storm coming) and frequently is a single strike that is not repeated.

Had one a few years ago. Sunny out, BUT there was a strong cold/warm front collision and there were some clouds in the mountains several miles away. But where I was it was sunny, no clouds nearby at all, just a little hazy. A strike, completely out of the blue hit a palm tree across the street. Sounded like a bomb going off and the explosion of flames made it look that way. But I saw the flash of light and even heard a moment of "tick tick" before the strike so I knew what it was right off. Not having the normal warning of hearing it coming it almost gave me a heart attack! Was completely relaxed in my chair watching TV then BLAM!!! House shook, windows rattled.

No more lighting or thunder followed. Fire engines followed however.

 

[Airbot]

Maybe it was just this guy?



Could have been a power transformer blowing up somewhere.

 

[kodi]

Looks like Airbot has just joined the Dolly club (see avatar)

 

[seekermeister]

Clear air lightning is possible. It comes "out of nowhere" (can't hear a storm coming) and frequently is a single strike that is not repeated.

Had one a few years ago. Sunny out, BUT there was a strong cold/warm front collision and there were some clouds in the mountains several miles away. But where I was it was sunny, no clouds nearby at all, just a little hazy. A strike, completely out of the blue hit a palm tree across the street. Sounded like a bomb going off and the explosion of flames made it look that way. But I saw the flash of light and even heard a moment of "tick tick" before the strike so I knew what it was right off. Not having the normal warning of hearing it coming it almost gave me a heart attack! Was completely relaxed in my chair watching TV then BLAM!!! House shook, windows rattled.

No more lighting or thunder followed. Fire engines followed however.

Despite the fact that I'm a retired pilot, and do have some weather training and experience, I hadn't heard of clear air lightning, so I googled it and found this:

Another frequently asked question concerns "bolts from the blue" — lightning flashes that supposedly come down from a clear blue sky. This is called by atmospheric specialists "clear air lightning." The phenomenon is rare in any case, but it is believed that although the sky directly above the bolt is blue, there is almost always a thunderstorm 10 or more kilometers away to establish the electric field. Still, especially where tall structures are involved, there are a very few cases where a bolt has occurred when the air is wholly clear and there is no obvious thunderstorm around. A related phenomenon is so-called dry lightning, lightning that occurs when there is no rain. This is much more common than clear air lightning and is thought to happen when conditions are so dry that rain evaporates before it hits the ground.

When I checked the NWS radar, the nearest return that even somewhat resembled a storm was 46 miles away, so there was no anvil for it to come out of.

As far as a transformer goes, I suppose that is possible, but I have heard a transformer blow once before, and it was nothing like this. Even if it had been a transformer, with as loud as it was, it would have had to been extremely close by, and that should have caused the lights, computer, etc. to have browned out momentarily, but there was never a flicker.

 

[Airbot]

Meteor>meteorite?

 

[seekermeister]

Meteor, no. I'm not sure what a meteorite might sound like when striking the ground, but I doubt it. Then again, it didn't exactly sound like an explosion either, it really was more like an extremely loud clap of thunder.

 

[Airbot]

Wouldn't have to make a sound hitting the ground. Still small, but big enough it could make a sonic boom entering the atmosphere that you would hear.

 

[seekermeister]

This was no sonic boom. The sound was of a different character.

 

[johnwillyums]

Cthulthu?

 

[jfar]

Check to see if there is an ice age outside, and that all the dinosaurs are still alive and kicking.
If they are, all's good.
At least we will be able to rule out the Meteor theory.

fseals theory sounds good.

 

[seekermeister]

I just found an article about an explosion that comes close to corresponding to what I heard:

Tulsa teen arrested after Tuesday mall explosion | Tulsa World

However, it seemed that the police couldn't get it straight as to whether it happened on Tuesday or Wednesday, and the time is also wrong. If it wasn't this, then I have no idea of what it was.