This modified Northrop F-5E jet was used during 2003 for NASA’s Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstration program.
Photo courtesy National Aeronautics and Space Administration
A loud booming noise startled many South Carolina residents as they were getting home from work late Thursday afternoon, raising questions about what caused the sound and shaking that hit parts of Columbia.
The U.S. Geological Survey reports that the phenomenon is consistent with a sonic boom, instead of an earthquake like those that have been recorded in the state this year.
Sonic booms can occur when aircraft, meteorites or other rapidly moving objects exceed the speed of sound. But the source of the booming sound was still unknown Friday afternoon.
Shaw Air Force Base, one of the biggest military installations in central South Carolina, said it had no aircraft in the area of Columbia where the boom was reportedly centered.
“All flying operations were completed for the day before 5pm on Thursday, 28 May and therefore yesterday’s boom was not related to any flying activities from Shaw AFB,’’ base spokesman Capt. James S. Stewart said in an email. “Also, no other reported activities at Shaw AFB are associated.’’
The booming noise and rattling sparked a flurry of social media posts and neighborhood emails after 5 p.m. One video posted by WIS showed two dogs scrambling away from a swimming pool as soon as a loud booming sound occurred. The boom sounded like an explosion, with a brief shaking.
The Geological Survey issued a notice about a sonic boom in the area Thursday night. The boom was centered in the St. Andrews area of Columbia, the USGS reports. It occurred at about 5:24 p.m, according to the S.C. Emergency Management Division.
An EMD spokeswoman said the agency had no reports of damage from the booming and shaking.
Northeast Richland County resident Steve Shook said he heard the booming noise, then the sound of what appeared to be some type of aircraft about 30 seconds later. Shook lives near Fort Jackson and is used to noises made by the military.
“I could hear what sounded like a military jet engine, at higher altitude,’’ Shook, 53, said. “You can kind of distinguish them because they are more growly than a commercial plane is. I didn’t stick my head out the window, but I could hear it going off into the distance.’’
Scott Howard, a scientist with the S.C. Geological Survey, said he heard the boom, at first thinking it was a tree crashing down. He knew at the time that it was not an earthquake.
“With an earthquake, usually there is a rumble,’’ he said. “It wasn’t anything like that. But it was felt in Lexington, it was felt downtown, it was felt out Elgin way.’’
There was speculation Friday that some type of meteor caused the sound after entering the earth’s atmosphere, but NASA scientist Bill Cooke said that is unlikely. If a meteor streaks across the sky, it can produce a fireball that is usually easy to see, even during the daytime, to people on the ground. When meteors break apart, sonic booms can occur.
But in this case, NASA has no reports of a fireball or any satellite detections of a meteor in central South Carolina, he said.
“I can say with a pretty high degree of confidence that the noise ya’ll heard wasn’t caused by a meteor,’’ Cooke told The State. “We have no detections on satellites of any fireballs.’’
Yaareb Altaweel, a scientist with the National Earthquake Information Center in Denver, said most sonic booms are caused by aircraft. Scientists are reasonably sure the noise and shaking were not from blasting or an earthquake, he said.
Ground waves associated with an earthquake can be seen on equipment that tracks quakes. But sonic booms often do not register on that equipment, despite people noticing them, he said. Explosions don’t create certain waves that are detected by the USGS, he said.
Put in perspective, sonic booms occur periodically, but earthquakes — often small ones that attract little notice — occur multiple times every hour across the globe, he said.
Sonic booms can sound like thunder, according to the U.S. Air Force. These booms are caused by an object moving faster than sound — about 750 miles per hour at sea level, the Air Force says.
“An aircraft traveling through the atmosphere continuously produces air-pressure waves similar to the water waves caused by a ship’s bow,’’ according to an Air Force description of sonic booms. “When the aircraft exceeds the speed of sound, these pressure waves combine and form shock waves which travel forward from the generation or release” point.’’
Tiffanie Barrett, a spokeswoman for the S.C. Emergency Management Division, encouraged people to report any significant property damage they think is associated with the boom. People can report damage through the Damage Assessment tool. The app can downloaded at www.scemd.org/stay-informed/mobile-applications.
This story has been updated with comments from the U.S. Geological Survey, Shaw Air Force Base, NASA, and the S.C. Geological Survey, as well as citizen comments.
This story was originally published May 29, 2026 at 7:15 AM.
Sammy Fretwell has covered the environment beat for The State since 1995. He writes about an array of issues, including wildlife, climate change, energy, state environmental policy, nuclear waste and coastal development. He has won numerous awards, including Journalist of the Year by the S.C. Press Association in 2017. Fretwell is a University of South Carolina graduate who grew up in Anderson County. Reach him at 803 771 8537.
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