The aim of this paper is to present data from laboratory‐scale experimental simulations of sonic boom propagation through a turbulent atmosphere. The source used to simulate sonic boom N waves is an electric spark source. In order to model turbulence, two setups have been used: a turbulent jet for kinematic turbulence and a heated grid for thermal turbulence. Acoustic measurements have been conducted for three configurations: free field; close to a plane surface in order to simulate ground effects; and close to a curved surface in order to investigate the propagation into a shadow zone. The surfaces were either smooth or rough. With turbulence, many waveforms have been recorded, then the statistics of various parameters, including the peak pressure and the rise time, have been analyzed. In the free field, data show that the increase of the mean rise time and the decrease of the mean peak pressure are linked to the probability of random focusing. The experiments have enabled separate assessment of the effects of turbulence and roughness in the shadow zone caused by the curved surface. Comparison with numerical simulations will be discussed. [This work was supported by European Commission Contract N:G4RD‐CT‐2000‐00398 and French Ministere de la Recherche (Decision 00T0116).]