Earthquake near Morongo Valley, CA

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 41 km (25 mi) from the epicentre. In Morongo Valley, 13 km away, the estimate is intensity III (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

Likely felt in: Morongo Valley 13 km, intensity III · Banning 23 km, intensity II · Big Bear City 23 km, intensity II · Desert Hot Springs 24 km, intensity II · Big Bear Lake 25 km, intensity II · Yucca Valley 26 km, intensity II · Beaumont 30 km, intensity II · Yucaipa 31 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,400 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 230,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 10,000× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 7,400× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,400 lb of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.5× more

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 4.4 on 2016-01-06 — about 80 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 37 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.3 The 1992 Landers, California Earthquake · 29 km ENE of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
2. 6.7 The 1918 San Jacinto, California Earthquake · 43 km SSW of this epicentre Apr 21, 1918
3. 6.3 The 1992 Big Bear, California Earthquake · 17 km NW of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
4. 6.1 The 1992 Joshua Tree, California Earthquake · 39 km ESE of this epicentre Apr 23, 1992
5. 6.0 The 1948 Desert Hot Springs, California Earthquake · 37 km ESE of this epicentre Dec 4, 1948

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 34.0832, -116.7145. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.5 6km SSW of Idyllwild, CA 18:26 UTC
2. 1.6 12km NE of Yucaipa, CA 02:13 UTC
3. 2.9 1km E of Loma Linda, CA 21:21 UTC
4. 2.1 16km NW of Morongo Valley, CA 11:15 UTC
5. 1.7 13km NNE of Cabazon, CA 04:12 UTC
6. 2.0 2km E of Loma Linda, CA 11:42 UTC
7. 1.8 4km WNW of Cabazon, CA 03:05 UTC
8. 1.7 6km S of Calimesa, CA 13:54 UTC
9. 1.7 10km NE of Running Springs, CA 11:37 UTC
10. 1.7 6km S of Idyllwild, CA 20:29 UTC
11. 1.6 10km N of Idyllwild, CA 10:28 UTC
12. 2.4 4km N of Loma Linda, CA 19:21 UTC
13. 1.9 10km SSE of Lucerne Valley, CA 19:03 UTC
14. 1.6 4km NNE of Beaumont, CA 22:39 UTC
15. 1.7 13km S of Joshua Tree, CA 18:40 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 03:52 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

• The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
• Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
• ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one

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