USGS Confirms: Sonic Boom Caused New Jersey Shaking

UPDATE: NBC News has reported that a U.S. military F-35C Joint Strike Fighter jet created a "number of sonic booms" during flight tests off the coast of New Jersey on Thursday.

The United State Geological Survey confirmed that it was a sonic boom that caused the earthquake-like shaking across the state of New Jersey earlier this afternoon.  The event originated 2 miles north, northeast of Hammonton at 1:24PM EST and could be felt as far away as Connecticut.

Immediately following the series of shakes, reports of an earthquake took social media by storm with reports from Cape May to Lakewood all describing the same phenomena.

A sonic boom is defined as 'a loud explosive noise caused by the shock wave from an aircraft traveling faster than the speed of sound.'

The exact cause of this boom has not yet been confirmed.  This is a developing story and we will provide updates as they come in.