Earthquake near Big Bear Lake, 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 33 km (21 mi) from the epicentre. In Big Bear Lake, 14 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: Big Bear Lake 14 km, intensity III · Yucaipa 14 km, intensity III · Big Bear City 18 km, intensity II · Mentone 20 km, intensity II · Beaumont 21 km, intensity II · Banning 22 km, intensity II · Redlands 25 km, intensity II · Highland 26 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 750 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 20,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 14,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.3× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.9 about 750 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 4.4 on 2016-01-06 — about 150 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 30 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 7.3 The 1992 Landers, California Earthquake · 46 km ENE of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
2. 6.7 The 1918 San Jacinto, California Earthquake · 40 km S of this epicentre Apr 21, 1918
3. 6.3 The 1992 Big Bear, California Earthquake · 13 km NE of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
4. 6.2 3 km SE of San Bernardino, California · 31 km W of this epicentre Jul 23, 1923
5. 6.0 The 1986 North Palm Springs, California Earthquake · 32 km ESE of this epicentre Jul 8, 1986

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 34.1168, -116.9227. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.9 5km SW of Idyllwild, CA 18:20 UTC
2. 1.6 12km SSE of Big Bear City, CA 11:13 UTC
3. 1.6 13km W of Morongo Valley, CA 05:37 UTC
4. 1.6 4km N of Big Bear City, CA 00:07 UTC
5. 1.6 10km NE of Cabazon, CA 21:18 UTC
6. 3.3 10km NE of Cabazon, CA 21:02 UTC
7. 1.6 14km S of Big Bear Lake, CA 10:40 UTC
8. 1.6 5km NE of Cabazon, CA 02:28 UTC
9. 2.2 5km NW of Big Bear City, CA 21:06 UTC
10. 1.9 12km NW of Big Bear Lake, CA 19:37 UTC
11. 1.5 9km N of Big Bear City, CA 18:12 UTC
12. 1.8 9km N of Banning, CA 13:12 UTC
13. 1.6 8km NE of Nuevo, CA 06:33 UTC
14. 1.6 11km E of Yucaipa, CA 01:27 UTC
15. 2.0 1km ESE of Loma Linda, CA 23:31 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 11:42 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.