6km SSW of Wasco, CA

2016-02-24 00:02 UTC · 22 km deep · released about 300 tons of TNT

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: 2016-02-24 00:02 UTC
Magnitude: M 4.9 (mw)
Depth: 22 km below the surface
Felt: 2367 reports · strongest reported intensity V
Measured shaking: intensity VII (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert: green
Tsunami: USGS flagged this event for tsunami evaluation. Follow tsunami.gov for official messages.
Nearest: Kern County, 62 km ESE
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS 1615 days ago · we first saw it 1615 days ago

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon. 2367 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 300 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 560× the energy of this one
Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 25× the energy of this one
Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 18× the energy of this one
This earthquake M 4.9 about 300 tons of TNT
Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 640× 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.

Where

Map loads when it scrolls into view

Epicentre 35.5423, -119.3728. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Place	Distance	Direction
Kern County, CA	62 km (39 mi)	WNW of here	earthquakes near Kern County
Kings County, CA	71 km (44 mi)	SE of here	earthquakes near Kings County
Tulare County, CA	93 km (58 mi)	SW of here	earthquakes near Tulare County
San Luis Obispo County, CA	99 km (61 mi)	E of here	earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
Santa Barbara County, CA	127 km (79 mi)	NNE of here	earthquakes near Santa Barbara County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1.9 5km ENE of Shafter, CA 20:37 UTC
1.8 10km SW of Pixley, CA 00:46 UTC
1.8 12km W of Rosedale, CA 23:39 UTC
2.0 8km E of Wasco, CA 09:55 UTC
1.9 4km ESE of Delano, CA 21:16 UTC
2.3 7km NNW of Delano, CA 20:09 UTC
1.8 25km E of McFarland, CA 10:22 UTC
1.9 9km W of Pixley, CA 21:39 UTC
2.0 22 km NNW of Lost Hills, California 10:24 UTC
2.0 4km NNW of Delano, CA 07:32 UTC
2.1 7km SSW of Shafter, CA 23:05 UTC
1.8 6km WSW of Bakersfield, CA 16:35 UTC
1.6 18km NE of Oildale, CA 19:05 UTC
1.5 5km SW of Wasco, CA 06:06 UTC
1.7 19km ENE of Maricopa, CA 05:10 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 13:36 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.