A large scale explosion was felt and heard around Boston and much of central and eastern Massachussetts and Rhode Island today; scientists believe a bolide may be to blame for today’s event. The event was so large people as far away as New Jersey and Delaware reported seeing the event unfold.
Shortly after 2pm, people across the northeast reported seeing, hearing, or feeling a streaking meteor and/or sonic boom. As of press time, the American Meteor Society reports that 36 observers from New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, and nearby areas in Canada observed a fireball.
At about the same time, equipment on-board the GOES-East weather satellite detected a large and bright area just east of Boston. The Group Flash Count Density or Flash Extent Density is a satellite product from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) on the GOES weather satellite. Distributed by CIRA and NOAA, it maps the total number of lightning flashes within grid cells over time, helping meteorologists track intensifying, severe thunderstorms. But with no thunderstorms in the vicinity of Boston at the time of this recorded flash event, it is assumed it showed a bolide exploding over the northeast.
NASA and NOAA have yet to confirm whether or not today’s explosion was the result of a bolide although it is the leading theory within the earth science community. USGS has not reported any earthquake activity in the northeast today. However, more than 500 people used the Volcano Discovery website to report the ground shaking from an explosion across a large part of southeastern New England this afternoon.
While USGS didn’t report an earthquake, they did log a sonic boom event. USGS released a statement saying, “This event is a widely felt sonic boom from a suspected bolide. Unlike earthquakes which occur at discrete location in the earth, sonic boom events occur along a linear path in the atmosphere. Therefore, the location provided is an approximation. While recorded on seismic sensors, traditional earthquake magnitudes are not appropriate for measuring atmospheric events. No magnitude is assigned.”
Another mysterious explosion today, this time near Boston, Massachusetts. Unlike Thursday’s sonic boom in South Carolina, this even lt in New England is likely the result of a bolide. https://t.co/5UpHLK6h01
— the Weatherboy (@theWeatherboy) May 30, 2026
A bolide is a very bright meteor that can be seen over a wide area. It’s typically used to describe meteors that are exceptionally bright, sometimes even brighter than the planet Venus in the night sky. A defining characteristic of a bolide is its tendency to explode or fragment in the atmosphere, often resulting in a bright flash and sometimes a sonic boom.
The American Meteor Society is not to be confused with the American Meteorology Society which is an organization for professional meteorologists that track the weather. Meteorology is named after the Greek word “meteoron” which, in ancient times, referred to anything observed in the sky, including weather phenomena.
While today we associate “meteor” with rocks from space, in ancient Greece, it encompassed a broader range of atmospheric occurrences like rain, snow, and even rainbows. Aristotle’s book “Meteorologica” covered topics we now call weather and climate, thus giving the name to the field of meteorology.
A similar mysterious explosion and sonic boom was heard/felt over South Carolina on Thursday. However, unlike today’s event in New England, there were no sightings of a fireball and the GOES-East weather satellite didn’t detect anything unusual in the atmosphere over South Carolina at the time of the event.
