Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 0.5ml
Earthquake near Big Bear City, CA
USGS: 5 km N of Big Bear City, CA
35 km (22 mi) NNE of Yucaipa, CA · 147 km (91 mi) ENE of Los Angeles, CA
- When
- 1:49 am PDT on 6 October 2026 ()
- Where
- 5 km (3 mi) N of Big Bear City, CA · earthquakes near Big Bear City
- Magnitude
- M 0.5 (ml)
- Depth
- 5.1 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- San Bernardino County, 86 km NE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Helendale-South Lockhart fault, 3 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 0.5 earthquake was recorded 5 km (3 mi) N of Big Bear City, CA, at 1:49 am PDT on 6 October 2026 (08:49 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 0.15 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 1.5 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 100,000,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 72,000,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 6,500× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 0.5 about 0.15 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 1,100,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 28 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 7.3 The 1992 Landers, California Earthquake · 40 km ESE of this epicentre
- 6.3 The 1992 Big Bear, California Earthquake · 12 km S of this epicentre
- 6.2 3 km SE of San Bernardino, California · 45 km WSW of this epicentre
- 6.0 The 1986 North Palm Springs, California Earthquake · 41 km SSE of this epicentre
- 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 34.3065, -116.8485. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Bernardino County, CA | 86 km (54 mi) | NE | earthquakes near San Bernardino County |
| Riverside County, CA | 101 km (63 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Riverside County |
| Orange County, CA | 111 km (69 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Orange County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
1 earthquake has 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 changed | From | To | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| review status | automatic | reviewed |
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.