Here in Jersey, we don't have much experience with earthquakes. In fact, the first time I felt one was back in 2011 when a 5.8 magnitude quake hit Virginia and the tremors reached our area.

Seismograph instrument recording ground motion during earthquake
Tomislav Zivkovic
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Fast forward to today, when I felt the floor start to shake. But was it an actual earthquake?

UPDATE: 3:22 p.m. The U.S.G.S. has released a statement noting a sonic boom (not an earthquake) registered above Hammonton, NJ.  NBC News later reported that U.S. military officials confirmed that F-35C Joint Strike Fighter Jet created a 'number of sonic booms' during flight tests off of the New Jersey Coast on Thursday.

UPDATE: 2:46 p.m. The local authorities are asking people to stop calling 911 regarding the tremors. They are aware of the situation, but there is no confirmed cause at this time.

UPDATE: 2:38 p.m. The U.S. Geological Survey says no earthquakes have happened along the east coast.

There are unconfirmed reports that the shaking might be caused by sonic booms happening off shore. Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst has not reported any activity today.

UPDATE: 2:05 p.m. Another round of tremors were felt just after 2 p.m.


It happened at about 1:34 p.m., and I jokingly texted a coworker and said "Earthquake?" He thought I was crazy...as did my boss down the hall.

I decided to tweet about it too...and realized that other people on Twitter said they felt something in South Jersey too!

Luckily, one other person in our building also said he felt the shaking, so I know I'm not completely losing my mind...but I still can't verify that an earthquake actually happened.

If you felt the shaking too, let us know where in NJ you're located, and hopefully we'll have the cause soon.


 

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