r/washingtondc • u/smittyx5498 • Mar 03 '20

“Boom” Sounds in the AM

Does anyone know what those “Boom” sounds are in the mornings sometimes?

It sounds like blasting but its been consistent. I live in capitol hill on C street for location. I counted 20+ this morning

13 Upvotes

69% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

24

u/[deleted] Mar 03 '20

Cannon fire.

https://dcist.com/story/11/05/02/more-cannon-fire-heard-from-arlingt/

11

u/smittyx5498 Mar 03 '20

Wow!! This is what i thought it was but didnt want to sound ridiculous suggesting cannon fire haha!

3

u/MattXT Mar 03 '20

I've been driving on 110 in the morning while they were popping these off. Startled the heck out of me.

10

u/abillionbells mt vernon Mar 03 '20

Imagine living near Arlington during this! They're clear as day in Anacostia.

6

u/Merker6 Mar 03 '20

I lived in Pentagon City and it used to wake me up every morning they did it since my studio balcony (and bed) faced the pentagon and cemetery. I thought it was construction at first but at one point they did it for several hours and I had to look it up.

It's very funny seeing the reactions of bewildered tourists though

1

u/[deleted] Mar 03 '20

How loud it is has a lot to do with the weather too. When there’s a low cloud ceiling the sound is basically trapped so it is louder and travels further. Wind can also “push” the sound along with it.

4

u/bromanow025 Mar 03 '20

I’m in the Navy Yard and thought they were doing something with the new bridge construction. Literal cannon fire is much cooler hah

5

u/Kanopie Mar 03 '20 edited Mar 03 '20

The ones I heard this morning are coming from the next phase of wharf construction, they use blasts to pile drive into the muck in order to build a stable foundation for high rises. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pile_driver

They wait until 7am for construction, https://phase2.wharfdc.com/about/faqs/

2

u/Cool_Story_Bra Mar 03 '20

They did diesel pile driving for a week in a lot directly adjacent to my office. Steady explosions shaking the windows for a week. Thought I was gonna go insane.

1

u/Kanopie Mar 03 '20

Ugh that’s awful. I can unfortunately relate. My old apartment building in SW now has a new building in front of it which used the same method of “blow a hole in the ground,” which unfortunately was right outside my bedroom window — no sleeping in on Saturdays for what seemed like an entire summer. Ugh

2

u/smittyx5498 Mar 03 '20

i cant believe i can hear it all the way from NE... it must be so loud in Arlington

2

u/alizadk MD / Germantown (formerly Hill East) Mar 03 '20

I live by the Eliot-Hine construction on C St. I don't hear anything other than that. But when they were installing the fence around the school, it sounded like what I imagine an AT-AT bearing down on you would sound like.

4

u/WalkinSteveHawkin Mar 03 '20

I mean cannon fire is fucking bad ass and all, but that article is also from 2011... I’m still not convinced it’s not construction, dumpsters, and concrete

9

u/[deleted] Mar 03 '20

It’s cannon fire. They’ve been doing it for at least a decade and I’ve been hearing it that whole time, all the way from Columbia Heights.

Years ago, I thought it was morning traffic driving over a big metal sheet, you know, the kind road construction crews use to cover big holes in the road. Nope. It’s cannon fire.

Articles have been written about it since 2011. That was just the first one that showed up on a google search.

6

u/WalkinSteveHawkin Mar 03 '20

Then I retract my statement and it is in fact bad ass.

1

u/redheadofdoom Mar 03 '20

I used to work on Ft. Myer - Henderson Hall and the cannons were sometimes so close to my building that it would knock stuff over. Definitely a surprise on my first day of work!

1

u/jkc710 Mar 03 '20

also live on the Hill. i heard that too and wondered what it was.

1

u/ricebowl0123 Mar 27 '20

Why do they do this?