Mystery boom heard in New Hampshire – as experts speculate it may be a ‘frost quake’

with Boston NBC affiliate WBTS-TV reported that the cause of the explosion-like noise heard in Massachusetts and New Hampshire was likely a frost quake.

Though they feel similar, frost quakes are different from earthquakes.

The setup for a frost quake happens when soil is saturated from steady precipitation, such as snowmelt, and the air rapidly cools as colder air surges in, Noyes said.

The ground, which is typically already slightly above freezing, quickly cools to below freezing.

That causes the water in the top inches of the ground to quickly freeze.

Noyes compared the natural occurrence to filling an ice cube tray.

Filling the tray all the way will cause the ice to protrude and expand outside the tray as it forms.

The expansion of water as it freezes in the ground causes the frost quakes as the ice settles in the cracks of rocks, or in between rocks, ultimately splitting the ground and projecting out a boom noise.

Frost quakes rarely cause any damage since they are shallow and lack the power of earthquakes.