Earthquake near Wofford Heights, 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 12 km (7 mi) from the epicentre. In Wofford Heights, 5 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: Wofford Heights 5 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 14 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,100,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 760,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 68× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 14 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 4.0 on 2021-08-27 — about 2,100 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 12 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.3 The 1946 Walker Pass, California Earthquake · 41 km E of this epicentre Mar 15, 1946
2. 5.6 19km N of Tehachapi, CA · 44 km S of this epicentre Jul 25, 1952
3. 5.5 22km N of Tehachapi, CA · 41 km S of this epicentre Jul 25, 1952
4. 5.4 14km NW of Inyokern, CA · 42 km E of this epicentre Mar 15, 1946
5. 5.4 25km SSW of Bodfish, CA · 39 km SSW of this epicentre Jul 23, 1952

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 35.6962, -118.4012. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.6 25 km NE of Lamont, CA 18:16 UTC
2. 1.6 14 km ESE of Wofford Heights, CA 02:53 UTC
3. 1.7 24 km NNW of Tehachapi, CA 01:21 UTC
4. 1.5 16 km ESE of Lake Isabella, CA 05:32 UTC
5. 1.6 20 km SE of Bodfish, CA 11:25 UTC
6. 2.2 25 km SSW of Bodfish, CA 03:09 UTC
7. 2.3 23 km NNW of Tehachapi, CA 06:13 UTC
8. 1.7 25 km S of Bodfish, CA 13:07 UTC
9. 1.6 14 km ENE of Lake Isabella, CA 03:46 UTC
10. 1.6 14 km ENE of Lake Isabella, CA 21:34 UTC
11. 3.3 14 km ESE of Wofford Heights, CA 15:09 UTC
12. 2.1 14 km ESE of Wofford Heights, CA 08:22 UTC
13. 1.6 20 km NNW of Tehachapi, CA 10:25 UTC
14. 1.6 26 km NE of Lamont, CA 18:30 UTC
15. 1.8 28 km NW of California City, CA 21:57 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 21:05 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.