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 Residents across southern New Jersey reported that they felt the ground shake on Saturday morning, but the USGS and the National Weather Service both say there was no earthquake. There is some growing speculation from experts in the area that it could have been a sonic boom. 
 
 Air force personnel at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst also reported no activity that could have caused such shaking. 
 
 Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst spokesman Pascual Flores told the media on Saturday, "There currently is no training of any type that would have resulted in today's incident." 
 
 New Jersey residents in Atlantic, Cape May, Ocean, Salem and Camden counties are buzzing about what they felt, what they heard and when it happened. 
 
 USGS reported on their website a sonic boom with a question mark of magnitude 0.0 at 11:03 a.m. local time, as they were not completely sure what had occurred. 
 
 Location: New Jersey 40.08277130127 ; -74.649917602539 
 
 According to wikipedia, a sonic boom is the sound associated with the shock waves created by an object traveling through the air faster than the speed of sound. Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding much like an explosion. The crack of a supersonic bullet passing overhead is an example of a sonic boom in miniature. 
 
 Numerous reports of light to moderate shaking across southern New Jersey were also on the USGS website. ||||| Time is running out for New Jersey residents and businesses to take advantage of the state’s tax amnesty program, which ends Jan. 15. 
 
 The temporary program allows people to pay their delinquent taxes and half the interest they owe. The state waives the other half of the interest as well as any financial penalties for late payment. ||||| Jan. 28, 2016: Shaking in N.J. was likely a sonic boom, USGS says 
 
 The story below is from Oct. 20, 2012. 
 
 SOUTH JERSEY — Reports of a "sonic boom" and ground shaking were due to military activity near South Jersey, according to officials. 
 
 
 
 Cumberland County emergency officials and the Sea Isle City Police Department confirmed a sonic boom was created due to military aircraft flying 
 
 over an area of water in South Jersey. The boom sound occurred at 11:03 a.m., around the time residents reported the ground shaking. 
 
 Officials also confirmed that the sonic boom was a "non-incident" and are not following up at this time. 
 
 
 
 Official did not report the exact location of where the sonic boom was created. 
 
 
 
 South Jersey residents said they felt the ground shake around 11 a.m. this morning, according to Jersey Shore Hurricane News Facebook page. 
 
 
 
 The source goes on to report that the cause is not related to seismic activity, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). 
 
 
 
 A number of South Jersey and central New Jersey residents responded to the post with comments, stating they felt the shaking from areas including North Brunswick, Barnegat, Manahawkin, Somers Point, Toms River and Ventnor. 
 
 
 
 One resident, Chris Ryan, of East Brunswick, said he felt the shaking in Avalon. 
 
 
 
 "It sounded like a huge explosion, or maybe they were testing a super fast military jet," Ryan wrote in an email to the South Jersey Times. "I have never heard a sound like that in my life." 
 
 
 
 Anthony Donise, of Southampton Township in Burlington County, said the shaking "did not feel like a tremor," and suspected it was from military activity due to their location near McGuire Air Force Base. 
 
 
 
 "I've heard and felt similar in the past, but nothing as pronounced and close as this morning," Donise added. 
 
 
 
 Residents have also reported feeling the sonic boom in Estelle Manor and Wildwood Crest. 
 
 
 
 Stay with NJ.com for more details. 
 
 
 
 If you felt or heard the sonic boom, send Jim Cook Jr. an email at jcook@southjerseymedia.com 
 
 
 
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 Staff reporters Spencer Kent and Jim Cook Jr. contributed to this report 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

– The ground shook and windows rattled in South Jersey this morning, and it remained a mystery for a while—especially after local Air Force personnel said they weren't to blame, reports the Examiner. But officials later confirmed that military aircraft had shaken up the state with a sonic boom, the Star-Ledger reports. Those officials are calling it a "non-incident" unworthy of investigation, but residents say they were shaken up. "My basement door shook violently for 15 sec or so long enough to creep me out," one person posted on the New Jersey Shore Hurricane News Facebook Page. "Sounded like someone was trying to get out." Another called it "a huge explosion. ... I have never heard a sound like that in my life."