QuakeIndex

Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change

M 1.7ml

Earthquake near Willow, AK

USGS: 31 km WNW of Willow, Alaska

82 km (51 mi) NNW of Anchorage, AK

5:16 pm AKDT, Sep 30, 2026 · · 62 km deep · released about 11 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Willow Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Matanuska-Susitna Borough 68 kmAnchorage Municipality 104 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
5:16 pm AKDT on 30 September 2026 ()
Where
31 km (19 mi) WNW of Willow, AK · earthquakes near Willow
Magnitude
M 1.7 (ml)
Depth
62 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Matanuska-Susitna Borough, 68 km NE
Status
Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2 days ago

A magnitude 1.7 earthquake was recorded 31 km (19 mi) WNW of Willow, AK, at 5:16 pm AKDT on 30 September 2026 (01:16 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 11 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,400,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,000,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 89× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 11 lb of TNT

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log10E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 6.0 on 2025-11-27 — about 2,800,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 18 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.9 27 km SE of Skwentna, Alaska · 27 km WSW of this epicentre
  2. 5.9 23 km NE of Willow, Alaska · 42 km E of this epicentre
  3. 5.7 19 km E of Skwentna, Alaska · 27 km WNW of this epicentre
  4. 5.6 11 km NW of Big Lake, Alaska · 41 km SSE of this epicentre
  5. 5.6 5 km N of Susitna, Alaska · 33 km S of this epicentre

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 61.8900, -150.5440. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Matanuska-Susitna Borough, AK 68 km (42 mi) NE earthquakes near Matanuska-Susitna Borough
Anchorage Municipality, AK 104 km (65 mi) SE earthquakes near Anchorage Municipality

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

2 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 1.7 23 km E of Skwentna, Alaska
  2. 2.1 8 km NNE of Susitna, Alaska

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.