Update 03.23.2012: the mysterious booms are also being reported in Montello, WI.

Previously, I took a gander at making an astrological prediction, something I pretty much never do. This time though the astrology seemed so clear it was worth the risk of public humiliation.

In that article, I wrote:

If I am anywhere near correct, this Mercury retrograde will see a massive shale gas explosion that is directly caused by hydrofracking. … The opposition between Chiron and Mars becomes exact at approximately 9:00 a.m. on March 22, London time. It stays exact until approximately noon on March 23, London time. This is another possible window.

Today is March 22. There’s been a story breaking all day today about mysterious booming sounds in Clintonville, Wisconsin. Here’s the Google news search. And here is a quote from the Christian Science Monitor:

The intermittent underground booms began sounding in the wee hours early Monday morning, spurring about 150 calls to the city’s emergency response center and spreading fear among residents that something is happening that may affect not only their sleeping patterns but the structure of their homes.

And Fox News is reporting that there was indeed an earthquake in the Clintonville area. Take this with as many grains of salt as Fox News requires:

Federal geologists say a minor earthquake occurred this week near the Wisconsin city where researchers have been investigating a series of unexplained booming sounds.

The U.S. Geological Survey said Thursday the 1.5 magnitude earthquake struck Tuesday just after midnight in the eastern Wisconsin city of Clintonville.

So far there is precisely no link between these mysterious booming sounds and hydrofracking. Wisconsin has no shale gas; what it does have, however, is sand mining. And sand mining evidently uses the same or very similar hydrofracking processes as shale gas mining. The map at the link shows that the nearest sand mining operation to Clintonville is about an hour southeast by car.

So again, there is currently no known link between fracking and what’s going on in Clintonville. But I am keeping an eye on it and crossing my fingers that nothing more comes of it.