QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.0md

Earthquake near Upper Lake, CA

No earthquake was likely felt in Upper Lake in the 24 hours to 3:55 pm PST (23:55 UTC). The last one was M 1.6, 8 km (5 mi) W, at 4:31 am PST on 10 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Upper Lake

This page: a magnitude 2.0 earthquake was recorded 17 km (11 mi) northeast of Upper Lake, CA, at 1:01 pm PDT on 19 September 2016 (20:01 UTC), 10 km deep.

USGS: 17 km NE of Upper Lake, California

1:01 pm PDT, Sep 19, 2016 · · 10 km deep · released about 32 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Lake County 17 kmColusa County 45 kmGlenn County 48 kmMendocino County 62 kmSonoma County 83 kmNapa County 91 kmSutter County 94 kmYolo County 98 kmTehama County 106 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
1:01 pm PDT on 19 September 2016 ()
Where
17 km (11 mi) northeast of Upper Lake, CA · earthquakes near Upper Lake
Magnitude
M 2.0 (md)
Depth
10 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Lake County, 17 km S
Nearest mapped fault
Bartlett Springs fault system, 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 3561 days ago

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 Upper Lake, 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: Nice, North Lakeport, Clearlake Oaks, Lakeport, Soda Bay.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 32 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 470,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 330,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 30× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.0 about 32 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 5.1 on 2016-08-10 — about 40,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.2 6 km ESE of Talmage, California · 34 km WSW 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 39.2603, -122.7515. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Lake County, CA 17 km (11 mi) S earthquakes near Lake County
Colusa County, CA 45 km (28 mi) ESE earthquakes near Colusa County
Glenn County, CA 48 km (30 mi) NE earthquakes near Glenn County
Mendocino County, CA 62 km (39 mi) WNW earthquakes near Mendocino County
Sonoma County, CA 83 km (52 mi) S earthquakes near Sonoma County
Napa County, CA 91 km (57 mi) SSE earthquakes near Napa 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.

  1. 2.0 5 km W of Cobb, California
  2. 3.3 6 km W of Cobb, California
  3. 2.6 6 km W of Cobb, California
  4. 1.5 5 km W of Cobb, California
  5. 1.6 22 km N of Upper Lake, California
  6. 1.7 9 km WNW of Cobb, California
  7. 1.8 2 km WNW of Cobb, California
  8. 2.1 2 km WNW of Redwood Valley, California
  9. 1.9 4 km W of Cobb, California
  10. 1.9 5 km WNW of Cobb, California
  11. 1.6 9 km W of Cobb, California
  12. 1.5 7 km W of Cobb, California
  13. 1.8 9 km WNW of Cobb, California
  14. 2.0 Northern California
  15. 1.7 7 km W of Cobb, California

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

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