OK, boomer.
The mysterious booming sound that’s been rocking a New Jersey town is apparently the result of a homemade “hail cannon” designed by a vineyard owner to protect his crop from bad weather, he and police told The Post.
Rob Butkowski of Hammonton said he’s been firing off the sonically loud cone-shaped contraption — which blasts shock waves up to the sky — to break up cloud formations and scare away birds that nibble his grapes.
“It sounds like a jet going by,” said Butkowski, 34. “It’s like the loudest thing you’ve ever heard just blew through your chest — it’s amazing.”
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Butkowski, who works in construction, said he made the 16-foot-long machine “from scratch” using scrap metal from street signs and other objects because he was “bored from all this COVID s–t.”
Using directions he found online, he rigged a mixture of acetylene and oxygen in a propane tank to create an explosion that blasts from the barrel to keep icy weather at bay.
For weeks, he’s been firing off the thunderous shock-waves — which travel 30,000 feet in a 1.5 mile radius — above his five-acre plot, he said.
“You can see the split clouds apart,” he said. “You can hear it rip.”
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Hammonton Chief of Police Kevin Friel said the cannon is responsible for the mystery boom that has baffled and frustrated nearby residents — many of whom have reported the sound to local cops.
But the gadget is likely perfectly legal, Friel said.
“It doesn’t fire projectiles, and it’s not a firearm or an explosive,” Friel said, adding there are no plans to stop him. “It uses gas — and that’s it.”
The only possible legal issue would be a noise violation after 10 p.m., which is moot because Butkowski stops shooting the machine at around 8 p.m.
But police in nearby Mullica Township — where cops were flooded with complaints about the noise — skeptical that the contraption could be heard from 10 miles away.
Mullica Township Police Chief Brian Zeck said the boom may be coming from multiple sources.
“We’re looking into [Butkowski], and we are looking into all other possibilities,” he said.
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Butkowski, for his part, has no plans to stop firing the cannon, he said. “I’m gonna do whatever I want as long as it’s legal,” he said.
Meanwhile, neighbors are praying his boomer gets busted.
“Every time it goes off, I think there’s been an accident,” said Shawn Guevara, 43-year-old mom, who lives next door. “It scares the poop out of us.”
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