Huge Ice Chunk Falls From Sky, New Jersey Family Nearly Escapes Disaster

On Wednesday evening, a New Jersey family narrowly avoided disaster when a massive chunk of ice seemingly fell off a plane and crashed through the roof of their suburban home in Paterson. The giant fall occurred around 9:30 p.m., just 12 feet from where the Gomez family was seated at their backyard table.

"Out of nowhere, you just hear a hollow sound coming down, and honestly, we didn’t think anything of it, and then you just hear a big DOOOOSH!,” Sabrina Gomez, one of the family members, described the scene. Security footage captured the family jumping out of their seats as the ice plummeted to the ground.

“It was big stones … I guess it was a big square. When it came down, it smashed everything,” said Paul Gomez. Their home stands directly underneath several flight paths.

The family rushed to the front of their house and found huge pieces of ice scattered across the driveway. “Honestly, it was a little terrifying, but thank God it didn’t hit anybody, and it hit the floor. It hit the roof, thank God,” Sabrina Gomez shared. The damage was so extensive that the family may need an entirely new roof.

The Gomez family has filed a claim with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to investigate the ice, believed to have fallen from a passing plane.

A similar event had occurred nearly a year ago in Shirley, Massachusetts. In August 2023, a chunk of ice weighing between 15 and 20 pounds struck the home of Jeff Ilg and Amelia Rainville. The couple described hearing an explosive noise before discovering the damage. The ice had created a large hole in their roof and scattered debris across their backyard.

The FAA explains that airplanes can accumulate ice from supercooled water, which remains liquid until it hits an aircraft and freezes. This can occur when planes fly near the top of a cold air mass beneath a layer of warm air, such as during freezing rain ahead of a warm front in winter.