Did you hear a boom in West Richland?
Nobody has reported a boom in West Richland 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.
West Richland is the closest part of the Tri-Cities to the open land to the west, and is frequently where a boom is felt first and hardest.
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 West Richland
Flat Top · Paradise · Belmont · Bombing Range Road · Red Mountain · Van Giesen