Earthquake near Big Bear Lake, 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 11 km (7 mi) from the epicentre. In Big Bear Lake, 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.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Running Springs, Lucerne Valley, Big Bear City, Lake Arrowhead, Apple Valley, Crestline.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 8.1 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,900,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,300,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 120× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 8.1 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 20,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 17 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.3 The 1992 Big Bear, California Earthquake · 21 km SE of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
2. 6.2 3 km SE of San Bernardino, California · 34 km SW of this epicentre Jul 23, 1923
3. 5.6 7km ENE of Running Springs, CA · 9 km SSW of this epicentre Oct 16, 1999
4. 5.5 11km SSE of Big Bear Lake, California · 23 km SE of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
5. 5.4 26km NNW of Yucca Valley, CA · 46 km E of this epicentre Jun 28, 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 34.3150, -117.0147. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.5 1km E of Beaumont, CA 22:04 UTC
2. 1.9 10km WSW of Morongo Valley, CA 10:20 UTC
3. 2.0 6km S of Redlands, CA 21:31 UTC
4. 1.6 2km ENE of Colton, CA 15:27 UTC
5. 3.0 4km SW of Redlands, CA 00:59 UTC
6. 1.5 11km ENE of Yucaipa, CA 22:52 UTC
7. 2.0 14km ENE of Yucaipa, CA 07:30 UTC
8. 2.4 28km NNW of Yucca Valley, CA 05:20 UTC
9. 1.6 12km E of Yucaipa, CA 20:11 UTC
10. 1.9 11km SSE of Big Bear Lake, CA 17:48 UTC
11. 1.5 9km N of Cabazon, CA 14:30 UTC
12. 1.9 6km E of Calimesa, CA 03:56 UTC
13. 2.1 3km SW of Morongo Valley, CA 00:13 UTC
14. 1.6 5km NNE of Running Springs, CA 12:17 UTC
15. 2.4 5km NNE of Running Springs, CA 19:11 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 12:05 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.