Video Shows 'Loud Boom, Flash Of Light' Over Grays Harbor County

MONTESANO, WA - Was it a UFO, a ballistic missile exploding, or an airplane crash? Whatever happened in the sky over Grays Harbor County Wednesday night, it was seen and felt by thousands along the Pacific Coast.

Wednesday night, the Grays Harbor Emergency Management announced on Facebook that it had received reports of "ground shaking, loud boom and flash of light in the sky." The department contacted the National Weather Service and the Federal Aviation Administration - but those agencies could not immediately explain what had happened.

The National Weather Service has offered a theory: it might have been a bolide. That's a meteor that explodes inside the Earth's atmosphere. A bolide typically comes with a sonic boom, which may explain why people in Grays Harbor County felt the ground shake.

Here's how to get FREE tickets to Cinerama, Seattle's "most epic movie theater"

"If the flash in Grays Harbor County was a bolide meteor, it might have hit the atmosphere an angle of about 45 degrees relative to those who heard a sonic boom. It can take 1-1/2 to 4 minutes for the boom to reach ground after the explosion," the NWS posted on its Twitter feed Wednesday.

Coincidentally, it was almost exactly one year ago that a meteor was seen streaking across the skies over Puget Sound. That event was seen by people from Vancouver, B.C., to Olympia.

Image via Getty Images