Article content

An area from West Montreal to Cornwall, Ont., to upstate New York was reportedly rocked by the sound of a massive explosion at around 8 p.m. Tuesday, but with no immediate evidence of structural damage on the ground, residents began speculating that the boom had come from the cosmos.

“People are reporting a blue flash of light that lasted a couple of seconds and then a loud booming sound. This has the hallmark of a meteor blast,” said Andrew Fazekas, a spokesman with the Montreal Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. “It could be anywhere from the size of a living room sofa to the size of a car.”

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Massive blast heard near Quebec, Ontario border likely a meteor: expert Back to video

“These stones can be travelling at speeds of up to 50 to 60,000 km per hour when they collide with the atmosphere of earth and at those speeds you would hear a sonic boom as it’s zipping across the overhead sky.”

As of late Tuesday evening, officials in the Quebec towns of Hudson and St-Lazare, as well as the Surêté du Québec, were flummoxed, leaving residents who heard the noise to wonder on Twitter what happened.

“No one seems to know what it is exactly but a friend described it as a bright blue flash in the sky followed by the sound,” wrote Kalina Laframboise.

“It’s been heard all over the region but no details,” wrote Greg Patterson. “My opinion is that it was a meteor hitting the atmosphere with sonic boom.”

Nothing in the weather patterns in the area could be to blame, least of all the snow that began to fall around the same time, an Environment Canada spokesperson said.

Postmedia News, with files from Tristin Hopper, National Post