Earthquake near Morongo Valley, 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 7 km (4 mi) from the epicentre. In Morongo Valley, 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: Cabazon, Desert Hot Springs, Big Bear City, Yucca Valley, Banning, Big Bear Lake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 6.2 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,500,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,700,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 150× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 6.2 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 27,000 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 · 26 km ENE of this epicentre Jun 28, 1992
2. 6.7 The 1918 San Jacinto, California Earthquake · 45 km SW 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 · 38 km ESE of this epicentre Apr 23, 1992
5. 6.0 The 1948 Desert Hot Springs, California Earthquake · 36 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 34.0948, -116.6952. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.8 10km SE of Yucca Valley, CA 02:41 UTC
2. 2.0 5km ENE of Banning, CA 23:26 UTC
3. 1.8 3km SE of San Jacinto, CA 09:38 UTC
4. 1.8 6km NW of San Jacinto, CA 11:35 UTC
5. 1.5 6km NE of Cabazon, CA 12:37 UTC
6. 1.6 4km SE of Loma Linda, CA 18:25 UTC
7. 2.1 2km ESE of Yucaipa, CA 03:01 UTC
8. 1.5 7km S of Idyllwild, CA 22:18 UTC
9. 1.9 14km S of Big Bear City, CA 22:11 UTC
10. 1.7 12km NE of Running Springs, CA 10:26 UTC
11. 1.7 16km N of Yucca Valley, CA 03:39 UTC
12. 2.1 2km ESE of San Jacinto, CA 02:31 UTC
13. 1.7 5km SW of Idyllwild, CA 22:41 UTC
14. 1.6 6km ENE of Moreno Valley, CA 16:25 UTC
15. 1.7 23km N of Yucca Valley, CA 02:21 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 16:23 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.