What shook the South Bay on Tuesday? Likely not a sonic boom

SFGATE reported on a mysterious earthquake-like shake people felt all the way from San Jose to the Santa Cruz area on Nov. 15, 2016. The USGS didn't record an earthquake at the time and the source of the rumbling is unknown. Many SFGATE readers had some funny things to say about the phantom quake. less SFGATE reported on a mysterious earthquake-like shake people felt all the way from San Jose to the Santa Cruz area on Nov. 15, 2016. The USGS didn't record an earthquake at the time and the source of the ... more Photo: SFGATE Photo: SFGATE Image 1 of / 25 Caption Close What shook the South Bay on Tuesday? Likely not a sonic boom 1 / 25 Back to Gallery

The mysterious shake that rattled the South Bay on Tuesday afternoon was likely not a sonic boom.

"Based on initial reports we're receiving, it's inconsistent with a military sonic boom taking place," Marc Calero, a spokesperson for the Naval Air Station at Lemoore said Wednesday evening. "The way people have described it seems highly inconsistent with a sound barrier being broken."

Calero added: "With a sonic boom, it's very sudden. It's almost like an explosion, and it's very short lived, less than a second. Especially if you're getting reports from places like San Jose. It's very unlikely that anyone in the military would be responsible for something like that in a highly populated area."

Residents from San Jose to Santa Cruz and all the way to Carmel reported feeling the earthquake-like shake on Tuesday afternoon at 2:45 p.m., but the source of the rumble is still unknown, as previously reported on SFGATE.

People in the area told KCBS that dishes in the cupboards shook and wine glasses clinked. Dogs around the neighborhood barked as the rumble lasted lasted about 5 to 10 seconds.

Many reported feeling the event on Twitter.

Windows rattled, def bigger than a truck. Guessing #sanjose #earthquake over/under of richter at 2.6.. I'll take the over, felt like 3.2... — Ramblin' Explorer (@SinCitizenGent) November 15, 2016

@KCBSNews - any info about a quake that happend 2:40pm near San Jose/Santa Cruz? Widely felt. Nothing from USGS pic.twitter.com/Hs1eQAj6gc — Rakesh (@densaer) November 15, 2016

The U.S. Geological Survey said that what South Bay residents felt was not an earthquake.

"Our on-duty seismologist did an extensive search, and we did not see any seismic activity in the South Bay," Susan Garcia, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Geological Survey, told SFGATE. "So it's not an earthquake, whatever they're feeling — as far as we can tell."

Late Tuesday night, a spokesman for PG&E said the utility company was not performing any work in the area that might cause shaking.

On Wednesday morning, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service suggested it might have been a sonic boom coming from a U.S. naval plane, likely in Lemoore.

"The atmospheric conditions might have been right to propagate the sound more than usual," said meteorologist Steve Anderson, who felt the shake in Carmel. "If you have a low cloud cover, this can happen. There were low clouds moving into the area as the weak cold front moved through yesterday."

Santa Cruz Police Department did confirm they had one call about a "loud boom" of some sort, but did not receive any other reports of an emergency or what a possible cause is. San Jose police, however, said they were unaware of any shaking Tuesday afternoon.

SFGATE readers commented on Tuesday's "phantom" earthquake in the San Jose area with hilarious results.

They blamed the shake on everything from the "evil supermoon" to the Trump presidency.