A loud boom was reported by a number of people in upstate New York on Saturday afternoon at the same time as a similar noise was heard more than 3,000 miles away in the UK.

Residents in locations including Buffalo, Cheektowaga, Clarence and as far north as Niagara Falls took to social media to report the unusual noise at around 4:45 p.m. EST.

People described it as loud enough to shake their homes and rattle windows.

Scroll down for audio of the boom

As the same time as a loud boom was reported by a number of people in upstate New York on Saturday afternoon as a similar noise was heard more than 3,000 miles away by people throughout the UK

One resident in Alden, New York, took the noise as clearly a sign of extra terrestrial life

'Just heard an explosion in Clarence that shook our house. Anyone else feel it? Our neighbors all felt it too,' wrote Lydia Von on the WGRZ Facebook page.

For one resident in Alden, the noise was clearly a sign of extra terrestrial life.

'I was at home when a LARGE BOOM sound accrued. My house shook. Everyone in town heard and felt it. Some surroundings towns felt it too. There is no explanation,' the unnamed person wrote on UFO Stalker.

State police received numerous calls about the loud boom, but have no idea what caused it.

Meteorologists at the National Weather Service office on the grounds of the Buffalo International Airport did not report hearing or feeling anything at their office and do not believe that there could be a weather-related explanation.

FAA personnel at the control tower did not report seeing or hearing anything either.

One possible explanation is that the loud noise and ground shaking could have been a meteorite breaking up in the atmosphere, which would result in a sonic boom

Residents in upstate New York described the noise as loud enough to shake their homes and rattle windows.

One possible explanation is that the loud noise and ground shaking could have been a meteorite breaking up in the atmosphere, which would result in a sonic boom.

The U.S. Geological Survey did not report any seismic activity or earthquakes in the area at the time of the shaking, although a small earthquake did take place just two hours later.

The magnitude 1.5 quake was centered about four miles west of Lockport and happened at 6:27 p.m. local time.

But Jana Pursley, a geophysicist with the USGS in Colorado, told WGRZ that it would be impossible to attribute the reported noises to the Lockport earthquake hours later.

Any earthquake that registers 2.0 or less on the Richter scale is a microearthquake and no damaged was reported as a result of the quake, according to law enforcement agencies.

A loud boom was reported by a number of residents in upstate New York on Saturday afternoon in locations including Buffalo (pictured), Cheektowaga, Clarence and as far north as Niagara Falls

At the same time as residents in New York State reported hearing noises, hundreds of Twitter users in the UK reported hearing similar sounds - that also shook their windows.

An audio recording of the 'loud bangs', taken by a woman as she sat at home in Croydon, south London, might shed light on what is really behind the unexplained noise.

Some people in Great Britain have suggested that unusual weather conditions might be the source, but the Met Office today dismissed the claims.

Others on Twitter suggested that it could be traced back to controlled explosions or military exercises. Meanwhile, conspiracy theorists took to social media to claim that aliens were to blame.

Claudia Angiletta said that she was watching TV at home when the unexplained sounds started.

She told MailOnline: 'I was just at home watching TV when I couldn't hear the program due to the loud noises. It was very distracting as it went on for ages.

People throughout the UK, including Edinburgh, reported hearing 'rumbling' sounds around 9pm and 10pm last night

'I went out to look for fireworks but I couldn't see anything in the sky. That's when I recorded the clip to send to my family to see if they could hear the same thing.'

The 27-year-old said that her family, who live roughly seven miles away in Norbury, south London, could also hear the sounds, which lasted for about 30 minutes. She then turned to Twitter to see if anyone could explain what they were.

Many suspected sonic booms similar to ones which shook Kent last month when two RAF jets intercepted a Latvian cargo plane in British airspace.

But a Ministry of Defence spokesman told MailOnline she had no records of any jets being scrambled last night.

The denial only served to fuel an outpouring of Saturday night speculation on social media.

Within minutes Twitter users had started spreading hashtags from the straightforward (#loudbangs) to the slightly melodramatic (#omgwereallgoingtodie).

Many of the reports were picked up by Twitter user Virtual Astronomer, who said space debris re-entering the earth's atmosphere could have been responsible.

'Space debris such as old satellites and things can cause sonic booms heard over very large areas,' he told MailOnline.

'It's the same for big meteors or rocks that come in.

'There are also some rare meteorologic phenomena that can cause rumbling or bangs apart from thunder.

'The only other explanation could be supersonic aircraft. There was very little wind last night so conditions were perfect for sound to travel very long distances.'

In response, science writer David Dickinson, said on Twitter that debris from Russian satellite Kosmos 2251 could be to blame, but admitted that the timings 'weren't a good fit'.

Reaction: There was an explosion of activity on Twitter, where some users came up with their own theories

Others thought that the loud noises might be due to unusual weather events, such as space weather, electrical storms or ferocious thunder storms.

But the Met Office said today that there had been no reports of such weather last night.

A spokesman told MailOnline: 'It definitely wasn't meteorological'.

Dozens of the reports focused around Croydon, south London, where baffled Twitter users were asking each other what had happened.

#Spooked: Was it an alien invasion, a meteor, the Third World War - or simply a few stray fireworks?

The Metropolitan Police said that a fireworks display in Croydon could have been the source.

But that does not explain why other noises were heard in Bedfordshire, Glasgow, North Devon, Leicestershire and West Sussex.

Dave Reed, who lives in Fareham, Hampshire, said his dogs 'went crazy for a couple of minutes' after hearing what he had assumed were fireworks.

The noises prompted conspiracy theories and immediate claims of a 'media blackout'.

Twitter user Carrie Proctor wrote: 'This is how we'll find our that WW3 has begun. It'll be a Twitter hashtag long before any official announcement!'