Loud boom heard across four counties likely caused by meteor, experts say

Watch: Dad captures amazing dashcam footage of 'meteor' hurtling through the sky

A loud boom that was heard across four counties was likely caused by a meteor, it has emerged.

Residents in parts of Devon, Dorset, Cornwall and Somerset heard the sonic boom at around 3pm on Saturday afternoon.

Ian Dryhust, 42, also captured a bright light crossing the sky on his dash cam footage while he was driving at around the same time on Jersey in the Channel Islands.

Experts have confirmed that the loud bang was likely to have been related to the fireball meteor seen in Jersey.

The British Geological Survey tweeted on Saturday afternoon of a "probable sonic event" over Somerset, Devon and Dorset.

Richard Kacerek, co-founder of the UK Meteor Observation Network, told Yahoo News: “This is a meteor we see on the pictures and videos.

“The reports we got seem to support this was a fireball meteor. The loud bang heard after this event seems likely to be related.”

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Seeing a fireball in the daytime is “extremely rare”, he said, and would have to be “a very large bolide class to be visible during the day”.

“Right now we are going through a fairly quiet meteor period, for at least one more month until Lyrid meteor shower peaks,” he added.

Watch: UK security camera captures sonic boom

Dryhurst was one of many people in Jersey who spotted the fireball; his family saw a "bright light" shooting through the sky yesterday.

When the family got home, they checked the car dash cam footage, which confirmed they had seen an unusual object streaking across the sky.

"It happened so quickly, so I wasn't sure at first whether it was just a strange reflection in the windscreen, or the sun playing tricks on us," he said.

"But myself and my wife and sons all sort of looked at each other and went, 'What was that?'"

He added: "We were very lucky that we managed to get it on camera."

Jersey Police and coastguard were called following reports of the alleged “meteor” sighting.

The island's harbourmaster said that following inspection, and judging by images on social media, he was satisfied that it was in fact a meteor.

At around the same time in the southwest England counties, a loud sonic boom was heard and was captured on a security camera on a residential street.

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Dozens of people took to social media after being startled by the loud noise, which reportedly shook some houses.

Beekeeper Sarah Beegee, 50, from West Dorset, was one of those who heard the sonic boom over her home.

She said: "I had just arrived in my Apiary to give my beehives a check and top up their feed when there was an enormous cracking, banging sound, followed by another almost straightaway."

Watch: Meteor flashes across Yorkshire sky as sightings reported across UK