Mysterious Noises Traced To Rare 'Frost Quakes'

[Purveyor]

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Chuck Herron heard the loud thud, then another and another. It sounded like someone was dropping big snowballs on the roof of his home.

The house is more than 100 years old and creaks, Herron said, but he had "never heard anything like that before."

As his neighbors in tiny Paris, Mo., huddled around televisions Sunday for the Super Bowl, many were startled by similar strange noises. Some even saw flashes of light and called 911.

Scientists say the community experienced a rare natural phenomenon known as a "frost quake," which happens when moisture in the ground suddenly freezes and expands. If conditions are just right, the soil or bedrock breaks like a brittle frozen pipe, generating mysterious noises that range from an earthquake-like rumble to sharp cracking sounds sometimes mistaken for falling trees.

This winter has been ripe for frost quakes, known technically as cryoseism. Temperatures have been frigid, but occasional warm-ups have allowed for thawing. And the temperature swings have sometimes been abrupt.

more...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_WINTER_WEATHER_FROST_QUAKES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-02-05-16-12-59

I've experienced something sort of similar when ice fishing on a lake with lots of ice when I was a kid. Scared the hell out of me and my dad just laughed and called it a 'ice quake'.

I must also add and a couple of weeks ago, when we hit the low temp of -19, our house popped and snapped all night long...

Global warming my ASS! (there I just had to say it this one time...)

[Warpy]

1. I always wondered what that was

and since temperature shifts are often extreme here in the high desert, I hear cinderblocks and old tires being dropped on my roof out of airplanes quite often.

There was never any damage up there, so I just roll over and go back to sleep now.