26 Hours Before 7.5 Quake, Unexplained Boom in Southcentral Alaska

“My (neighbor’s kids) looked for what was making that loud noise and they could not see anything- just kept hearing the loud noise.”

- KTUU Viewer Michelle Thomas Hanks

January 5, 2013  Anchorage, Alaska - Channel 2, KTUU-TV in Anchorage began receiving postings about a loud, rumbling boom on its Facebook page Thursday evening, January 3, 2013, between 8 PM and 10 PM, heard by people ranging from Eagle River 15 miles northeast of Anchorage to the Mat-Su Valley 35 miles north of Anchorage. This was approximately 26 hours before the 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit 71 miles west of Craig, Alaska, in southeastern Alaska. Are they different phenomena, or linked?