The winter storm that dumped snow and ice across the South last weekend had some in the region scratching their heads after they experienced a rare phenomenon known as a frost quake.
Ashley Lloyd lives on a quiet, country road near Richardsville in Warren County. But Monday night, she jumped out of her living room recliner to a loud noise.
“It sounded like the house was falling in. It was the loudest boom,” Lloyd told WKU Public Radio. “It sounded like a dresser fell over in just one boom and kinda like a rocking sensation in the house.”
What she experienced was a frost quake, often mistaken for an earthquake. Meteorologist Shane Holinde is with the Kentucky Climate Center based at Western Kentucky University. He says the scientific term is Cryoseisms, meaning cold quakes.
“These loud booms were the result of moisture seeping into the soil from the weekend winter storm that brought a mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain to the state,” explained Holinde. “Then temperatures, in the wake of that storm, plummeted to the single digits to around zero. That caused the ground to rapidly freeze and expand which created the loud booming sound.”
Frost quakes can produce sounds similar to a cannon, gunshot, or fireworks. The vibration can be strong enough to shake structures and rattle windows. Lloyd says the quake only lasted a second or two at her house, but it was enough to cause three cracks in her living room wall. She pointed to them behind a wood burning stove in her living room.
It’s all the way down. There’s a crack here, in the middle, and all down this side. It goes almost to the floor,” Lloyd showed. “It’s like a sore thumb. You can’t miss it.”
Weather experts say frost quakes are rare and don’t really cause major structural damage. They’re more common in colder climates, especially in the northern U.S. and Canada.
Louisville Meteorologist Marc Weinberg posted a video on social media of a frost quake happening in Southern Kentucky.
Meteorologists say as long as there are rapid drops in temperatures and the ground remains moist, more frost quakes are possible, especially during overnight hours when temperatures are at their lowest. While startling, they’re mostly harmless.
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