Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.5ml
Earthquake near Tehachapi, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Tehachapi in the 24 hours to 7:27 am PST (15:27 UTC). The last one was M 4.3, 61 km (38 mi) ENE, at 9:40 am PDT on 13 July 2026, estimated intensity III (weak) in town; 1,090 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Tehachapi
This page: a magnitude 1.5 earthquake was recorded 17 km (11 mi) west-northwest of Tehachapi, CA, at 6:26 pm PDT on 20 September 2026 (01:26 UTC), 7.7 km deep.
USGS: 17 km WNW of Tehachapi, CA
41 km (26 mi) ESE of Bakersfield, CA · 133 km (82 mi) N of Los Angeles, CA
- When
- 6:26 pm PDT on 20 September 2026 ()
- Where
- 17 km (11 mi) west-northwest of Tehachapi, CA · earthquakes near Tehachapi
- Magnitude
- M 1.5 (ml)
- Depth
- 7.7 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Kern County, 19 km NNW
- Nearest mapped fault
- White Wolf fault, 6 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 52 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Tehachapi, CA
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Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
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 Tehachapi, 17 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: Bear Valley Springs, Stallion Springs, Golden Hills, Arvin, Weedpatch, Lamont.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 5.6 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.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,700,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,900,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 170× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.6 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 5.2 on 2024-08-07 — about 370,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 30 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 7.5 The 1952 Kern County, California Earthquake · 43 km SW of this epicentre
- 6.0 Tejon Pass, California · 42 km SW of this epicentre
- 5.8 Near Bakersfield, California · 20 km NW of this epicentre
- 5.8 13km WNW of Grapevine, CA · 48 km WSW of this epicentre
- 5.7 11km N of Lamont, CA · 30 km NW of this epicentre
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 35.1995, -118.6227. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kern County, CA | 19 km (12 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near Kern County |
| Ventura County, CA | 104 km (65 mi) | SSW | earthquakes near Ventura County |
| Tulare County, CA | 115 km (72 mi) | N | earthquakes near Tulare County |
| Los Angeles County, CA | 116 km (72 mi) | SSE | earthquakes near Los Angeles County |
| Kings County, CA | 145 km (90 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Kings County |
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.
- 0.9 11 km W of Mojave, CA
- 1.0 25 km NNW of Tehachapi, CA
- 1.9 9 km ENE of Lebec, CA
- 1.0 13 km W of Mojave, CA
- 0.9 13 km SE of Tehachapi, CA
- 1.6 6 km WNW of Grapevine, CA
- 1.3 19 km SSE of Bodfish, CA
- 1.0 21 km NNE of Arvin, CA
- 0.9 10 km SSW of Bodfish, CA
- 1.7 10 km SSW of Bodfish, CA
- 1.5 24 km SSW of Bodfish, CA
- 1.4 8 km E of Lebec, CA
- 1.6 14 km WNW of Grapevine, CA
- 1.2 21 km N of Neenach, CA
- 0.8 11 km WNW of Mojave, CA
Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . 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.