I was surprised, yet upon consideration should not have been, at how loud the Ely fireworks were. With the strong southerly breeze we could hear them on the north side of Fourtown. Some might say I heard the storm brewing, but that hit a couple of hours later. Anyone else hear the booming?

Also, we heard one very impressive artillery late in the afternoon, seemed real close. Perhaps a violator, but only one blast? I went north to get my dog away from the tide of percussion. Maybe next year I choose a different ep than Mudro.

Mac

I've been on Ramshead Lake on the 4th and always see fireworks to the west. I'm not sure where they are being launched.

We were on Oyster, facing west, and I think we heard the Ely fireworks vaguely off in the distance, which is surprising since that's a long, long way. It may have been this for the storm that hit us hard a few hours later, however.

Zups Resort at West end of LLC does a pyrotechnic display each July 4 or use to. Watched it from Snow Bay one year. Probably what you heard on Oyster.

Being a weather guy and knowing to a better extent then others where thunder is or might be from storms -- I have heard thunder over 30 nautical miles away in a quiet urban setting at night for my job. I know I have heard thunder much further away in Canoe Country (away from concrete and other sound absorbing factors that urban areas have). Imo - it's quite likely under decent atmospheric conditions in Canoe land that fireworks can be heard a long ways off. Exposed rocks and large expanses of water will bounce sound waves a long ways.... Some co-workers have claimed to hear thunder over 60 miles away in perfect conditions but one most remember that lightning can extend a miles away from a parent storm. A booming loud firework burst that is for reasons gets directed in the right direction can easily be heard from distance mentioned.... Some fortunate few have even claimed to have heard the Aurora of the night sky in very remote regions.

Wouldn't the source of the "thunder" noise be much higher than fireworks? Based on 35 years of designing theatres and concert halls, sound energy gets attenuated when it's "scrubbing" along a surface - the earth and stuff on it - as opposed to being high overhead. Interesting though.

Depends on the source of the thunder. Cloud to ground strikes are the most penatrating for obvious reasons. Depending on the terrain,however, the sound may travel further in a in cloud or cloud to cloud strike, but mostly the CG does and a discerning ear knows the difference. FTR-as long as lightning is in the mention, and for weather geeks, cloud to ground strikes are a sign of a intensifying storm. In cloud lightning or cloud to cloud or cloud to air is 90% of the time a sign of a weakening cell.

quote WhiteWolf: "of a weakening/ stagnating cell. "

quote billconner: "Zups Resort at West end of LLC does a pyrotechnic display each July 4 or use to. Watched it from Snow Bay one year. Probably what you heard on Oyster."

Awesome, that makes much more sense. Thanks!

We heard them on Alice. Prior to the storm hitting. We heard that too....oh boy did we hear that too.