Lightning Map From D.C. Boom Event
Loud booms and bright flashes of light were observed last night over Washington, D.C. and surrounding area around 9:45 - hundreds of witnesses from North Carolina to Maryland. Wonkette has a summary of what the media is saying. She missed one article by WTOP which gives a statement from the NWS saying "We are confident in saying that this was not lightning." The Naval Observatory says that it was "decay of the rocket booster that was used to launch the most recent Soyuz to the International Space Station."
Above is the lightning map from 10 PM. Although it would not be unusual to see lightning over eastern Maryland from D.C., or possibly even North Carolina (distant lightning in the summer is often referred to as "heat lightning"), all but one of the MD strikes are colored orange, indicating that they struck more than 80 minutes ago (before 8:40 PM). The most current strikes at 10 PM were off the Long Island coast, still not out of the realm of possibility to see from D.C., but certainly out of sonic range, so I concur with the NWS's assessment.
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