Meteor Explodes Over Massachusetts Coast, Rattling Windows Across New England

A meteor exploded over the Massachusetts coast on Saturday afternoon, setting off a boom that rattled windows, startled pets and shook some homes across eastern New England, according to CBS Boston and the Associated Press. CBS Boston put the sound at 2:11 p.m. Eastern time. The AP described a double boom that sent pets fleeing and prompted questions on social media.

The WBZ-TV newsroom in Boston said it took dozens of calls from people who heard an explosion, with reports coming from as far away as Ipswich, Massachusetts, and Johnston, Rhode Island, CBS Boston reported. The American Meteor Society received preliminary reports from dozens of people across the Northeast who saw a fireball around 2 p.m., the station said. The society’s program monitor, Robert Lunsford, told the AP that the group received dozens of reports, ranging from Delaware to Montreal, from people who described the boom, ground shaking or the fireball itself.

Some residents first suspected an earthquake or a fallen tree. In Peabody, Massachusetts, one man told the AP he thought a large tree had hit his house before he went outside and found neighbors asking the same questions.

The U.S. Geological Survey said no earthquake registered on its seismographs, though several people filed “Did you feel it?” reports, USGS spokesman Steve Sobie told the AP. According to CBS Boston, the agency also explained that a sonic boom is produced along a line through the atmosphere, unlike a quake, which radiates from a point underground. NOAA satellite lightning data showed a signature consistent with a meteor at about the same time, CBS Boston reported, and suggested the object likely entered the atmosphere over the South Shore near Boston.

CBS Boston noted that the American Meteor Society has documented an unusual rise in large fireballs and sonic booms in early 2026, including a March fireball over Ohio that was heard across several states and, days later, a Texas fireball that scattered meteorites around Houston.