Meteor the culprit behind loud ‘boom’ heard across northern Utah, officials say

A meteor was likely behind the loud boom residents heard across northern Utah on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

Residents reported hearing — and feeling — the boom at roughly 8:30 a.m. local time on Saturday. Meteors sometimes create sonic booms as they break up while speeding through the atmosphere.

The NWS says its lightning mapper caught what likely were trails from a pair of pieces from the meteor.

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“Bolstering the meteor theory for this morning’s boom in Utah, the two reddish pixels shown over Davis and Morgan counties are from the GOES-17 Lightning Mapper, but not associated with evidence of thunderstorm activity in satellite or radar. Likely the meteor trail/flash,” NWS Salt Lake City wrote on Twitter.

The meteor strike came amid the Perseid meteor shower, which lasted throughout Friday and Saturday.

The annual Perseid shower comes as the Earth travels through the remnants of the comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. Most of the remnants are pea-sized and burn up quickly, but some larger ones make it deeper into the atmosphere.