A loud “boom” that echoed across areas of northern Utah was probably a meteor, US National Weather Service officials said on Saturday.
Reports of the loud noise first flooded in at about 8:30am, with people from Orem to southern Idaho speculating online about its origins, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. The noise, captured on security cameras, is described as having shaken some homes.
The office of Utah Governor Spencer Cox was quick to reassure residents, tweeting that officials had confirmed that the noise was not related to any seismic activity or military installations.
The University of Utah Seismograph Stations tweeted that “it was not an earthquake," and the Utah National Guard dispelled any speculation it might be from any military training.
Subsequently, the National Weather Service’s office in Salt Lake City wrote in a tweet that its lightning detection mapper appeared to have picked up the meteor’s trail flash over Davis and Morgan counties in northern Utah around 8:31am.
The office also posted what it said was video confirmation of the meteor, filmed by a witness: the footage showed a bluish fireball skimming across the sky and then disappearing behind clouds.