Earthquake near Big Bear City, CA

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 15 km (9 mi) from the epicentre. In Big Bear City, 12 km away, the estimate is intensity II (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: Big Bear City 12 km, intensity II · Lucerne Valley 15 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 49 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 310,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 220,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 19× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 49 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 4.5 on 2018-05-08 — about 3,300 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 26 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.3 The 1992 Landers, California Earthquake · 40 km ESE of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
2. 6.3 The 1992 Big Bear, California Earthquake · 19 km S of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
3. 6.0 The 1986 North Palm Springs, California Earthquake · 46 km SSE of this epicentre Jul 8, 1986
4. 5.8 3km NE of Yucca Valley, California · 47 km SE of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
5. 5.7 3km ESE of Yucca Valley, California · 49 km SE of this epicentre Jun 29, 1992

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 34.3722, -116.8250. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.6 11km NE of Running Springs, CA 18:18 UTC
2. 1.9 5km NNW of Cabazon, CA 04:37 UTC
3. 2.3 4km NW of Cabazon, CA 04:36 UTC
4. 3.2 5km NW of Cabazon, CA 04:34 UTC
5. 2.0 7km NNW of Big Bear City, CA 05:12 UTC
6. 1.6 16km NNE of Apple Valley, CA 20:10 UTC
7. 1.8 10km N of Cabazon, CA 23:45 UTC
8. 1.7 14km SSE of Big Bear Lake, CA 13:28 UTC
9. 1.5 9km NNW of Banning, CA 00:12 UTC
10. 2.5 8km NNW of Banning, CA 12:24 UTC
11. 1.9 4km S of Morongo Valley, CA 23:36 UTC
12. 2.2 4km NW of Beaumont, CA 13:01 UTC
13. 2.4 8km NNE of Banning, CA 08:50 UTC
14. 2.2 4km NNE of Big Bear City, CA 09:02 UTC
15. 1.6 9km N of Big Bear City, CA 18:07 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 16:14 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.