Today at around 2 in the afternoon and yesterday at about the same time there was this huge boom sound that was heard within a 20-30 (ish) mile radius. It shook my windows. The only thing that we can figure is a sonic boom.
Why would this be happing, isn’t it illegal outside an emergency or airshow?
BTW I live in a very rural area
Not for military aircraft, AFAIK. Is there an air base within a 100 miles or so of you? It might have been construction demolition, too, although a 20-mile radius seems a bit much for that.
There is one in about 80 miles south and one about 150 northwest of us.
Do they do that sometimes for practice?
Yep:
Wheeeee!
Thanks guys, my husband didn’t believe it, but that is got to be what it is.
And now I know that they were probably training, and not chasing a terrorist I feel better. 
Actually one of the places it would be illegal would be an airshow. Personally since it was so unusual, I gather you haven’t heard such a thing before and so I suspect it wasn’t an airplane going supersonic, my guess would be a meteor that noone happened to see. When they heat up enough they explode and if they get low enough it is reported to be quite a loud noise.
It is not legal to go supersonic over populated areas (not legal in that it is against federal regulations). Even military aircraft have to follow these regulations. I’ll have to track it down but I believe there is an area designated around Edwards AFB that they can go supersonic otherwise it has to be over the ocean. That is not to say that some hotshot might not “accidentally” push the aircraft a little too far. If his superiors find out he would get his ass handed to him.
Of course that doesn’t mean the military might not be doing something without telling anyone. It’s not a violation of federal regulations if it never happened, wink wink. I remember when I was a kid hearing several sonic booms. I found out later it was happening up and down the East coast. UfO theorists point to this incident as proof of… something. Most reliable theories I heard say that the military was doing something they didn’t want to talk about, probably with the SR71.
I you don’t mind mentioning, what state do you live in? Are you near an Air Force training base?
No need to track it down. We have a supersonic corridor between here (EAFB) and Nevada.
There are a lot of flight “Military Operations Areas” (MOA) scattered around less populated areas. They’re clearly marked on aeronautical charts. Not being a military pilot, I can’t say what they do there, but I’d guess some of it includes training, and some of that might include flying faster than sound.
Sonic booms ususally go BA-BOOM. That is two sharp booms in close succession. Did this one do that or was a single noise?
True enough; one from the leading end, the other from the trailing end. But, various environmental factors can act to smear out the separate booms, so they become less distinct. Similar to the way a thunderclap is spread out into a long rumble, instead a sharp crack.
I know, and distance does the same thing. I once heard three sonic booms. One from the plane and two echos, one from the Sierra Nevada range to the west and one from the mountains to the north. The echos were still two booms each but not nearly so distinct as the direct boom.
'Course, that’s also a function of the shape and lie of the stroke, too, which I’d think is irrelevant in an aircraft generated boom.
Absolutely. But, multipath interference (echoes from various objects in the area which slightly lag the main sound), also plays the main an important role in both situations, which is something I could have been clearer on.
It’s nice to hear from mrald in BFE. Some folks say BFE is a mythical place, but I always held out hope. 
Huh. I just thought of it as Bielefeld, Germany.
Another clue to a sonic boom: All has been quiet, then comes the BOOM or BA-BOOM, followed immediately by the usual aaawwooooaaaa sound of a plane in the distance. That’s because the plane is outrunning its engine sound–you didn’t hear the sound as the plane approached.
If the plane is far enough away, you’ll only hear the boom.
Oh man it was one single boom, loud and house shaking.
The area I am in isn’t greatly populatedk, but it is populated.
That seems to be the airport code for Bielefeld and it’s a mythical place. The guide doesn’t know anything about it.
Airport Code : BFE
Airport Name : Bielefeld (?)
Runway Length : Unknown (add)
Runway Elevation : Unknown (add)
City : Bielefeld (?)
Country : Germany (?)
Country Abbrev. : DE (?)
Airport Guide : Unavailable
Longitude : 8° 30’ 0” E (?)
Latitude : 52° 0’ 0” N (?)
World Area Code : 429 (?)
GMT Offset : +0.0 (?)
Telephone : Unknown (add)
Fax : Unknown (add)
Email : Unknown (add)
Website : Unknown (add)
Okay didn’t get to finish that last post.
It happened again same time and everything. Everyone is saying blasting but it doesn’t rumble.
So meteor is out unless aliens are throwing them at us.
BTW I live in North Arkansas, about 2-3 hours Northeast of Little Rock