What was that flash? What was that boom?

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Rattled outdoor furniture, frightened cats. We heard reports from several readers about the mysterious booms and flashes of light early this morning over Puget Sound:

"I heard a 'rolling thunder' sound at about 2 a.m. but it did not wake the dog who usually is the first to notice thunder. I tried to take note of the noise just in case and it seemed to me to sound like thunder with some small rolling object like and apple or debris rolling off the roof of the house. One of my coworkers tells me that even people in Japan are talking about it."

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"I was watching late night TV when at exactly 2:42 p.m. I saw the sky light up like a nuclear bomb had exploded. The entire sky and my whole yard glowed a luminous red color. I went outside to investigate and could hear a loud rumbling noise."

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"At about 2:45 a.m. I woke up to a plopping type noise which sounded like a flock of birds falling or landing on the roof. This went on for a number of seconds, enough that it alarmed me. I got up and opened the window to see or hear anything but all I could hear was a plane in the distance. This morning I went up on the roof looking for evidence of birds but saw none. My wife heard on the radio that there was a flash of light and booms at at about 2:45 a.m. I went back up on the roof and noticed some small holes in the shingles. There were also some holes in the leaves of a tree near by but I couldn't tell if this was from insects or not. So I suspect that it was some meteor particles hitting the roof."

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"So I was spending the night at my sisters apartment in Capitol Hill and was woken up several times from these super loud booms. It woke me straight up and I couldn't figure out what it was. I was getting angry because I was assuming it was people in her building being super loud and slamming things around. But the noise didn't really fit with that because it was a deep boom that shook her floor and windows. I finally was able to fall back asleep but am tired today from the amount of time I spent awake from the booms. I never thought to look in the sky but it was obvious what I heard and it was kind of scary. :)"

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"I saw the flash of light last night when I was sitting in the dark, reading e-mail on my computer. A few minutes later, there was a loud thump, and I thought that something, possibly a deer, hit the side of my house. The thump was followed by a loud rumbling noise that traveled away from my house toward the Olympic Mountains. I was scared, and did not want to go outside to see what was happening."

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"My wife heard the 'boom' and woke me up around 2:45 a.m., claiming she saw a light around the house. Every husband knows that a 2 a.m. 'I saw (or heard) something' wakeup call is wifespeak for 'get up and check all the doors.' As I stumbled downstairs, I saw a bright reflection on a south-facing wall of the house and thought 'wow, the moon is bright tonight.' With doors locked and no signs of raccoons playing flashlight tag, Republican fundraisers or any other suspicious activities, I went back to bed."

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"I live in the Greenlake area. A banging/rattling sound woke me up, and there was a dog barking. It lasted for a few seconds. I kept waiting for the bed to shake, but then the banging stopped and the dog stopped barking. My clock said 2:45. I said to my husband, 'I think we just had an earthquake'. Wasn't I surprised when I spoke with my neighbor in the morning; she had seen the flash of light! We're hoping it was aliens 'cause it makes it so much more fun to talk about."

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"At 2:30 a.m. I was looking toward the western sky when I noticed a very bright object. It was about the size of a dime from my viewpoint. About 10 to 15 minutes later I saw what I believed to be a meteor shower. This started as very white and turned to orange light which lasted about 5 to10 seconds. This was followed by a concussion and loud boom by about 10 mins."

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"I heard a series of several booms. It woke me up. After I walked around the house making sure there wasn't something wrong, I looked at the clock -- 2:50 a.m."

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"I was on my way to work this morning at at 2:40 and a yellowish, then greenish, then white then blue-white light like I have never seen before came over me. At first, I thought I was being beamed up, but no gauges on my car changed, so I knew I wasn't being 'taken'. It was very scary, as I live in the country and the moon disappeared, the light was so bright."

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"I heard a loud "boom" last night that shook my house and woke me up. I thought it was an earthquake and ran to my children's rooms to wake them up in case it was. They were asleep and didn't hear anything, but it definitely scared me. I hope to hear what is really was."

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"I was awakened by a loud boom at approximately 2:45 a.m. this morning, and heard the deck furniture outside rattling and sliding around. After checking out the window to see if a major storm had blown in, and seeing a perfectly clear sky instead, I concluded we had just had a minor earthquake, (although earthquakes don't typically announce themselves with sonic booms), or that, perhaps, a low-flying jet on its approach to SeaTac had backfired a little. I was mystified, but didn't lose any more sleep over it!"