OT: Ice quakes

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I heard a loud boom around midnight I thought it was either the damn breaking or a tree falling on my house. Turns out it was probably one of these. Anyone else catch one?

 

[Excalibur]

I heard a loud boom around midnight I thought it was either the damn breaking or a tree falling on my house. Turns out it was probably one of these. Anyone else catch one?

Yes. I didn't realize it was possible to jump 4 feet in the air while lying down . . .

 

[UConnSwag11]

I heard a loud boom around midnight I thought it was either the damn breaking or a tree falling on my house. Turns out it was probably one of these. Anyone else catch one?

yeah. I thought it was a tree but I was told it was most likely the deck if you have one

 

[jdb50]

We had loud pops about 30 minutes apart for a few hours after the cold came on last night. It is the roof rafters adjusting to the cold in our house.

 

[8893]

Having had a massive oak tree fall on our house last spring, that’s exactly what I thought this was last night/early this morning. Never heard of an ice quake before today, but sounds like that’s what we had, too.

 

[Austin316]

I heard them too. My wife thought our house was haunted. Austin316 was ready to throw out some stunners!

 

[formerlurker]

Is that what that is???!! Scared the crap out of me around 11 last night. Walked around the entire inside of the house and the yard and couldn't figure out what it was.

 

[UConnMike04]

It’s the deck if you have one. Bought a new house in fall ‘17 and had it happen last winter also a couple of times. It happened last night for about 5-6 hours also, it’s when there’s a major swing to extreme temps cold and the boards contracting and the pressure between them popping and releasing the pressure.

 

[art4life]

Could be vinyl siding contracting as well.
Happened a couple years ago during a severe temp drop & it sounded like gunfire outside my window!

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I'Ice Quakes' Cause Explosive Sounds Overnight

Here’s the link I meant to include in OP

 

[8893]

Mrs. 8893 says they’re calling them frost quakes on the news.

 

[Dibbie]

Sure glad I decided to close my pool on my own this year. Will probably pay $10K to repair frost damages....at least I saved $400 in closing costs.

 

[Mano]

It’s the deck if you have one. Bought a new house in fall ‘17 and had it happen last winter also a couple of times. It happened last night for about 5-6 hours also, it’s when there’s a major swing to extreme temps cold and the boards contracting and the pressure between them popping and releasing the pressure.

Yea, we call them Deck Pops! in our house. Inspired by:

 

[Robertelamin]

I heard them last night. For some reason my first thought was that kids were throwing giant snowballs at my house...I’ve actually heard them before but never knew what caused it.

 

[Rico444]

Sunday night I was sitting downstairs by myself when I heard a loud thud upstairs, like a piece of large furniture falling over. I rushed upstairs and my daughter was fine...went into the bedroom and the wife was half asleep, had no idea what I was talking about when I asked her about the loud boom. Guess it was one of these.

 

[Dove]

The last stime I heard a loud boom at night a mobile home in Killingworth had blown up.

Ice quakes? Not a thing.

 

[Vancat]

Our deck makes loud noises when it's really cold. And the lake makes noises like a freakin' whale.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Do these usually cause structural damage? They’ve been on the news a bit and they haven’t mentioned that but you’d have to feel like it’s a possibility.

 

[Vancat]

I don't think so. Just wood bein' wood.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I don't think so. Just wood bein' wood.

People keep mentioning decks and roof beams but what I’m talking about are geological. Ground water rapidly freezing causing loud pops and possibly tremors in the ground.

 

[CL82]

I had a few deck and joist pops. They are loud and sound like something hitting the house. I had one that shook the house a bit. Maybe it was an ice quakes.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

We heard dozens of noises, some little, some really loud. I had visions of the roof caving in. Like many others, I took a flashlight and went outside to see nothing. We have no trees capable of reaching the house, so that never entered my thought process. I was clueless.

 

[Rico444]

People keep mentioning decks and roof beams but what I’m talking about are geological. Ground water rapidly freezing causing loud pops and possibly tremors in the ground.

View attachment 38602

Yeah I don't own a deck, so mine must have been one of these.

 

[8893]

We have a deck. This was definitely not a deck pop. Much deeper.

 

[UConnStats]

Thought I heard an ice quake of my own last night. Woke up this morning and realized that it was actually the wind swinging open a screen door and snapping the spring/cover on the bottom. Now the door won’t close and I have an annoying chore to do after work. /rant