Did you hear a boom in Pasco?
Nobody has reported a boom in Pasco yet. If you just heard one, you may be the first. Reporting takes about twenty seconds and tells your neighbors they were not imagining it.
Pasco sits near rail, air and industrial activity, so a single sharp report here has more candidate everyday sources than elsewhere in the Tri-Cities.
What it might have been
These are the usual explanations around here, and how to tell them apart.
Military training
Artillery, demolition and live-fire training carries a long way across open ground, especially from the Yakima Training Center to the west.
Sonic boom
An aircraft going supersonic produces a sharp double crack that arrives with no warning.
Transformer or electrical fault
A failing transformer or line fault makes a single hard bang, often with a flash and a local power cut.
Quarry or construction blasting
Permitted blasting produces a muffled thump and ground shake that arrives before the sound.
Fireworks
Large shells make a sharp report with an echo, usually in bursts and usually after dark.
Earthquake
A shallow local quake can produce an audible boom along with the shake.
Areas we hear from in Pasco
Downtown Pasco · Road 68 · West Pasco · Riverview · Chiawana · Broadmoor