Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change
M 1.6ml
Earthquake near Thermal, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Thermal in the 24 hours to 8:56 am PST (16:56 UTC). The last one was M 4.9, 162 km (100 mi) SE, at 10:27 am PST on 3 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 321 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Thermal
This page: a magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 20 km (13 mi) east-northeast of Thermal, CA, at 11:14 am PDT on 26 September 2026 (18:14 UTC), 1.1 km deep. The magnitude and location are an automatic first estimate and may change.
USGS: 20 km ENE of Thermal, CA
27 km (17 mi) E of Indio, CA · 136 km (84 mi) E of Riverside, CA
- When
- 11:14 am PDT on 26 September 2026 ()
- Where
- 20 km (13 mi) east-northeast of Thermal, CA · earthquakes near Thermal
- Magnitude
- M 1.6 (ml)
- Depth
- 1.1 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Riverside County, 5 km W
- Nearest mapped fault
- Mecca Hills fault, 12 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 47 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Thermal, CA
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Thermal, CA. No account or email needed.
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 12 km (7 mi) from the epicentre. In Thermal, 20 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: Mecca, Coachella, Indio, Vista Santa Rosa.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 9 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.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,700,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,200,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 110× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.6 about 9 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 4.9 on 2026-01-20 — about 81,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 9 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.4 The 1954 San Jacinto Fault, California Earthquake · 49 km SSW of this epicentre
- 6.1 The 1992 Joshua Tree, California Earthquake · 43 km NW of this epicentre
- 6.0 16km WSW of Oasis, CA · 46 km SW of this epicentre
- 6.0 The 1948 Desert Hot Springs, California Earthquake · 46 km NW of this epicentre
- 5.7 38km ESE of Twentynine Palms, CA · 38 km NE 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 33.7270, -115.9450. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riverside County, CA | 5 km (3 mi) | W | earthquakes near Riverside County |
| Imperial County, CA | 94 km (58 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Imperial County |
| San Diego County, CA | 110 km (68 mi) | SW | earthquakes near San Diego County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
15 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 0.8 9 km NNE of Indio, CA
- 0.6 9 km NNE of Indio, CA
- 1.4 24 km S of Twentynine Palms, CA
- 2.0 23 km SSE of Twentynine Palms, CA
- 0.9 7 km NNE of Mecca, CA
- 0.6 17 km SW of La Quinta, CA
- 1.0 11 km S of Joshua Tree, CA
- 1.1 18 km NNE of Indio, CA
- 0.7 17 km NNE of Borrego Springs, CA
- 0.3 18 km SSW of La Quinta, CA
- 0.6 19 km SSW of La Quinta, CA
- 0.6 17 km SW of La Quinta, CA
- 0.9 21 km ENE of Thermal, CA
- 1.1 17 km N of Indio, CA
- 1.0 12 km E of Desert Hot Springs, 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.
Revisions
USGS refines a solution as more stations report. Every change we have seen is listed here.
| What changed | From | To | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| location | 21 km ENE of Thermal, CA | 20 km ENE of Thermal, CA | |
| longitude | -115.94 | -115.94 | |
| latitude | 33.74 | 33.73 | |
| depth | -0.18 | 1.06 | |
| magnitude | 1.77 | 1.65 |
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.