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For years, Pleasant Valley residents have been hearing booming sounds. The booms seem to happen during the summer, on weekdays and come in double bursts. According to documentation by residents, the booms occur between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. and sound as if they are coming from the east. The source of the sounds has caused many theories, but it looks as if they may remain a mystery.
Recent letters to the editor propose the source of the sounds as being training exercises at Fallon Naval Air Station in Nevada, some 150 miles east of Placerville, or blowing up old army equipment at Sierra Army Depot in Herlong some 175 miles northeast of Placerville. Another theory is roadwork on Highway 88. Still another theory targets the quarries closest to Pleasant Valley — one on Quarry Road off Cedar Ravine or another one on Snow’s Road.
David Oppenheimer of the U.S. Geological Survey office in Menlo Park says explosions are difficult to pick up seismically. The USGS has two seismic stations in El Dorado County and monitors all seismic activity in the United States.
When contacted by the Mountain Democrat, Oppenheimer said, “To really pinpont a seismic activity, we need five seismic stations. We track the activity and locate it on our Website. Since there is little seismicity in your area, we don’t operate many stations.”
The sparse station coverage and the lower magnitude of explosions make it difficult to locate explosions, but Oppenheimer said if he is given an accurate time for the booms and the location of the hearer, he can visually inspect the seismic waveforms to see if there was an explosion and try to pinpoint a location.
“There are some places where we have routinely located explosions in the past,” said Oppenheimer. One of those locations is the quarry on Lotus Road west of Placerville and another is the Sierra Quarry on Quarry Road in Placerville. both operated by Loring Brunius.
“Not us. We only blasted once last year, said Brunius of his Placerville operation, “and not at all this year. I haven’t been able to do any blasting at all in Lotus.”
Brunius, 86, has owned Sierra Quarry, a limestone quarry, since 1975, but the quarry has been in operation since 1852.
“No one around here is blasting,” said Brunius, “including the quarry in Georgetown. There are too many regulations.”
Brunius has heard the booming noises, but said he has no theory about what might be causing them.
Snows Road Quarry operator Rob Findleton has only had the quarry since January.
“It was closed until then and we still aren’t officially open, but we haven’t been doing any blasting.”
In fact, Findleton has heard the booms himself while at the quarry.
“Three or four people have stopped by to ask about the booms and we’ve heard them in the background while we’re talking. It’s not us.”
Swansboro resident Lou Bacigaloup said he called the Sierra Army Depot about the booms and was told that they stopped using the open detonation process in 2002 and that they have no ammunition stores. Bacigaloup thinks the booms might be from atmospheric pressure in the Tahoe Basin.
Cindy Matthew, forecaster for the National Weather Service office in Sacramento, checked with several sources before declaring that there is no atmospheric condition that would cause such regular booms in the area. She suggested that planes from Travis Air Force Base, flying east over El Dorado County might be a possibility.
The Mountain Democrat contacted both Travis Air Force Base and Beale Air Force Base.
“Our planes are heavy aircraft that don’t go fast enough to cause the booms,” said a public affairs representative at Travis.” They usually head north, toward Lake Berryessa and not toward the east.”
“From my experience the sound you are describing would not come from a Beale aircraft. We use the Air Force U-2 Dragon Lady intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, MC-2W Liberty intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, RQ-4 Global Hawk intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, and the T-38 Talon training jet; none of which break the sound barrier. We do not fly any fighter aircraft from Beale,” e-mailed Shawn P. Nickel, senior airman, USAF, public relations representative from Beale.
Propane cannon, used by some growers to deter birds is another suggested possibility, but most of the growers who use propane cannons are in Apple Hill, more than five miles distant from Pleasant Valley and it is not thought the sound could carry that distance.
Contact Wendy Schultz at 530 344-5069 or wschultz@mtdemocrat.net. Follow @wschultzMtDemo on Twitter.
The Mountain Democrat does not necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full policy
Nathan foltzAugust 24, 2012 - 12:06 am
I hear them every week day starts at 1030 or 1100 am
michaelkobusAugust 24, 2012 - 6:48 am
They blast everyday in the early afternoon at the new spillway overflow for Folsom Dam. Maybe that has something to do with it.
Chuck HollandAugust 24, 2012 - 7:06 am
I hear them between 11am and as late as 3pm week days. Given my close proximity to both the Sierra Rock Quarry and the Big Cut Mine, I'm reasonably sure it's not them. Last week a friend from the Sandridge Rd area was over and heard them, however he said they seem louder and closer at his house.
Nathan foltzAugust 24, 2012 - 9:51 am
945 am there they go
Kathleen NewellAugust 24, 2012 - 10:26 am
Watershed tour on August 17th east of Georgetown approx noon hour. We heard them, and asked the U.S. Forest Service person about them. The response was they are originating from Nevada possibly.
Evelyn VeerkampAugust 24, 2012 - 10:46 am
Kathleen: "They are originating from Nevada possibly" sounds rather like "We don't know!"
Phil veerkampAugust 24, 2012 - 11:21 am
RESTATEMENT: I first became aware of these “booms/thumps/explosions” in the late 1950s or early 1960s out at the Gold Hill area. They seem to come in closely spaced pairs as do sonic booms and from the east. I joke about area 51, but give me a better explanation . . . please? Wendy, thank you for your research!
WAugust 24, 2012 - 2:41 pm
thank you for finally looking into this without trying to make us who hear them feel crazy. I have lived in Pleasant Valley for over 10 years and did not hear these specific sounds until this Summer. I have heard thunder from the east before and since hearing the booms. There is a distict difference.
Charlene HensleyAugust 24, 2012 - 4:53 pm
I live North of Ponderosa High School in Shingle Springs (near Rescue), and I've been hearing the booms for years. They do sound like they are coming from the East, and are usually double booms. Sometimes they are loud enough to rattle the windows. I have always assumed they were from some quarry blasting. I'm going to start recording the time I hear them now.
TerryAugust 26, 2012 - 8:29 am
This made the Drudgereport.
Phil veerkampAugust 26, 2012 - 10:24 am
Wendy, Terry . . . Drudge LINK TO . . .Sacramento CBS CH13 story on the phenomenon
SteveAugust 27, 2012 - 5:23 pm
I've heard sounds like this up at Echo Lake for many years, including weekends. Also heard a series of these sounds on Friday June 8, eleven miles east of Sly Park. They went on in bursts of several booms at a time for about 15 minutes. Since the sounds came from the sky, I figured they were meteor fragments, but it's true that we only hear them from 10 AM to 2 PM, mostly on weekdays. But in the last year, other than during the winter, we hear them several times a week several miles east of Pleasant Valley.
Back CountryAugust 31, 2012 - 7:31 am
Is it me or have there been almost no booms this week? Hmmm....
SteveAugust 31, 2012 - 9:02 am
We haven't heard any booms this week either. It must be illegal blasting and they're laying low for a while. Maybe they're start blasting at night...
evanSeptember 01, 2012 - 7:27 pm
Used to hear them all the time, weekdays mostly in Swansboro (Mosquito) and now since this article it has been quiet...Hmmm???
Blue MoonSeptember 01, 2012 - 9:31 pm
Haven't heard the booms either in the Coloma-Lotus region for weeks now. The booms stopped suddenly in my home state of Wisconsin as well but they never found an explanation. Coincidence? On a similar note, also haven't seen any chem trails for about 2 months after a neighbor called and told me to look up at the sky. I counted 17 chem trails just over our region. Friends in Sacramento and the Bay Area also were astounded by the number of chem trails that same day. Haven't noticed any contrails for a long time.
Phil VeerkampSeptember 01, 2012 - 9:58 pm
Blue Moon,be patient. Summer is nearly over. Your "chem trails" will return this winter along with colder upper atmosphere temps. As for the booming phenomenon, they will almost certainly return. They have been an intermitent phenomenon since the late 50s/early 60s.
Back CountrySeptember 11, 2012 - 1:28 pm
Another week has passed with no booms. Just when USGS is set up to monitor. Curious....
SteveApril 24, 2013 - 9:01 am
My wife heard several booms at the end of last week, just before noon. Maybe they've started up again, just once in a while. We'll be recording the times from now on.
Mountain ManApril 29, 2013 - 12:10 pm
They are BACK! 12:00 - 12:10 Monday April 29, 2013
SteveApril 29, 2013 - 5:15 pm
Yes, at 12:06 PM today we heard them for a couple of minutes, halfway between Pleasant Valley and Sly Park, coming generally from the southeast. Hope someone had the seismographs running.
Mountain ManApril 29, 2013 - 7:29 pm
Left a message with Mr. Oppenheimer as to times of occurrence, he later left me a voice message stating that the booms in question likely are "Sonic Booms" from military aircraft as his monitoring equipment shows the booms going from south to north along the sierra's within minutes so it is likely a jet...
SteveApril 29, 2013 - 7:56 pm
Our booms lasted for several minutes and didn't move - they all came from the same direction. And they sounded just like the ones we heard almost daily until last summer.
Phil VeerkampApril 29, 2013 - 8:14 pm
Star fleet returning to base . . . tune in to Coast to Coast for updates . . . I miss Art Bell.