Folks in the region reported feeling a rumbling sensation at about 12:15 p.m. on Friday afternoon. “I actually felt it myself in our office while giving a presentation to Cape Fear Academy children,” said Steven Pfaff of the National Weather Service Office in Wilmington.
He continued by saying that a radar loop shows “chaff from military aircraft off the Cape Fear coast.” Pfaff explained that chaff is dropped from aircraft doing maneuvers and is often detected on weather surveillance radar since the chaff (little strips of aluminum) behaves like rainfall. Usually the radar signature for chaff becomes oriented into thin lines as the individual pieces are carried downwind of where they were released.
“Thus the radar indicates there were military aircraft operating off the coast and some of these aircraft are likely able to break the sound barrier creating the sonic boom sensation that was felt by many across Southeast NC today. The chaff signatures are not causing the booms. They simply imply that military aircraft have been operating in the area,” said Pfaff.
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