HAMPTON ROADS, Va. - The Navy confirmed on Tuesday that an F-18 Super Hornet from Oceana was the cause of the sonic boom heard across Hampton Roads.
A statement from the Navy reads as follows:
Based on analysis of data by fleet area control, surveillance facility and strike fighter wing Atlantic, we can conclusively state the loud noise heard across Hampton Roads around 6:30 p.m. Monday was a sonic boom generated by a U.S. F18 super hornet from Oceana.
The National Weather Service in Wakefield released a statement saying the large boom heard and felt by many in Hampton Roads was a sonic boom, which they said would support the supersonic aircraft theory. This theory has now been confirmed.
"For those wondering about a boom last night across the Tidewater...it appears it was a sonic boom, perhaps ducted/augmented by a temperature inversion due to persistent low cloud cover yesterday. Double boom sound in video fits with supersonic aircraft theory," said the NWS Wakefield in a tweet.
It happened around 6:30 p.m. Monday.
A sonic boom, by definition is a loud explosive noise caused by the shock wave from an aircraft traveling faster than the speed of sound.
Most of the reports were from viewers on the Southside, saying it was felt in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake. Some also said they felt it in Norfolk and Suffolk, and a couple of people say they also felt it in Windsor.
News 3 Meteorologist Myles Henderson said he felt something in Chesapeake.
Even Portsmouth native Missy Elliott said her mother felt something while she was in her Virginia home.
For the viewers out there who think it could have been aliens or a UFO, we looked into it with the Mutual UFO Network. They did not get any reports, either.
