The Boom is Back – Rumbles and Shaking Return to NH Seacoast

There were numerous reports of more booms and shakes Thursday afternoon around the Seacoast region that were likely more "frost quakes."

Numerous reports to the Rockingham Alert Facebook page reported feeling the ground shake and hearing what was described as very loud noises Thursday afternoon around 2 p.m. Comments came in from Brentwood, Danville, Fremont, Hampstead,  Kensingston, Kingston, Londonderry,  Newton, Plaistow, Rochester, Salem and South Hampton.

The U.S. Geological Survey did not report any seismic activity anywhere in New England or the East Coast of the United States.

"Definitely heard and felt in South Hampton on the Amesbury/Newton line.
Woke our lab up from his afternoon nap as well," Todd Dyer wrote in the comments of the post.

"In Newton & heard it - sounded like a giant metal container got dropped," Kathryn Flynn Michaels wrote.

"I thought I felt something at my house in Brentwood. I thought we were getting a thunderstorm. I even checked my weather app! It was definitely a strange Rumble that was happening here. I did not hear the Boom," Randi Wilson wrote.

"I felt it in Amesbury, MA - on the border of NH. A very loud noise and the house shook," Erica Puorro wrote.

There was also some who commented that the Torromeo Quarry in Kingston scheduled a blasting for 2 p.m. on Thursday. The company does not post a schedule of its blasts on its website.

As it was during the last booms reported on March 12, the most plausible explanation is a cryoseism, also known as a frost quake.

"They're more often to occur when we get a cold snap at the beginning of the year," Forecaster Sarah Jamison at the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine told Seacoast Current earlier in March. "Most years we hear reports of 'frost quakes' in the region."

The Maine Geological Survey said that it is a natural phenomenon that produces ground shaking and noises similar to an earthquake, but is caused by sudden deep freezing of the ground.

"The primary way that they are recognized is that, in contrast to an earthquake, the effects of a cryoseism are very localized. In some cases, people in houses a few hundred yards away do not notice anything," according to the Maine Geological Society.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNH