QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.4ml

Earthquake near Big Bear City, CA

USGS: 7 km N of Big Bear City, CA

38 km (23 mi) NNE of Yucaipa, CA · 149 km (92 mi) ENE of Los Angeles, CA

10:05 am PDT, Oct 2, 2026 · · 3.4 km deep · released about 3.9 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Bernardino County 84 kmRiverside County 102 kmOrange County 113 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
10:05 am PDT on 2 October 2026 ()
Where
7 km (5 mi) N of Big Bear City, CA · earthquakes near Big Bear City
Magnitude
M 1.4 (ml)
Depth
3.4 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Bernardino County, 84 km NE
Nearest mapped fault
Helendale-South Lockhart fault, under 1 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 9 hours ago

A magnitude 1.4 earthquake was recorded 7 km (5 mi) N of Big Bear City, CA, at 10:05 am PDT on 2 October 2026 (17:05 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

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

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 3.9 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.4 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 3,800,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,700,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 240× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.4 about 3.9 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 4.5 on 2018-05-08 — about 42,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 28 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 7.3 The 1992 Landers, California Earthquake · 39 km ESE of this epicentre
  2. 6.3 The 1992 Big Bear, California Earthquake · 14 km S of this epicentre
  3. 6.2 3 km SE of San Bernardino, California · 47 km SW of this epicentre
  4. 6.0 The 1986 North Palm Springs, California Earthquake · 42 km SSE of this epicentre
  5. 5.8 3km NE of Yucca Valley, California · 45 km ESE 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 34.3275, -116.8382. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
San Bernardino County, CA 84 km (52 mi) NE earthquakes near San Bernardino County
Riverside County, CA 102 km (63 mi) SE earthquakes near Riverside County
Orange County, CA 113 km (70 mi) SW earthquakes near Orange County

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

Aftershocks so far

No further earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

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 changedFromToWhen
review statusautomaticreviewed
longitude-116.84-116.84
latitude34.3334.33
depth3.133.4
magnitude1.541.41
location8 km N of Big Bear City, CA7 km N of Big Bear City, CA
longitude-116.84-116.84
latitude34.3334.33
depth2.733.13
magnitude1.61.54

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.