Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.6md
Earthquake near Hidden Valley Lake, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Hidden Valley Lake in the 24 hours to 11:05 pm PST (07:05 UTC). The last one was M 2.6, 18 km (11 mi) W, at 4:44 pm PST on 8 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Hidden Valley Lake
This page: a magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 9 km (6 mi) east-northeast of Hidden Valley Lake, CA, at 4:12 pm PST on 21 January 2018 (00:12 UTC), 7.0 km deep.
USGS: 9km ENE of Hidden Valley Lake, CA
48 km (30 mi) NNE of Santa Rosa, CA · 118 km (73 mi) N of San Francisco, CA
- When
- 4:12 pm PST on 21 January 2018 ()
- Where
- 9 km (6 mi) east-northeast of Hidden Valley Lake, CA · earthquakes near Hidden Valley Lake
- Magnitude
- M 1.6 (md)
- Depth
- 7.0 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Napa County, 39 km SSE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Hunting Creek-Berryessa fault system, 7 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 3214 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Hidden Valley Lake, 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 9 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In Hidden Valley Lake, 9 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: Lower Lake, Middletown, Clearlake, Cobb, Clear Lake Riviera, Clearlake Oaks.
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 5.0 on 2016-12-14 — about 110,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record since 1900 lists no earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km.
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 38.8375, -122.4617. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Napa County, CA | 39 km (24 mi) | SSE | earthquakes near Napa County |
| Lake County, CA | 39 km (24 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Lake County |
| Colusa County, CA | 43 km (26 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Colusa County |
| Yolo County, CA | 52 km (32 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Yolo County |
| Sonoma County, CA | 53 km (33 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Sonoma County |
| Sutter County, CA | 69 km (43 mi) | ENE | earthquakes near Sutter County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
60 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.7 10km WNW of Cobb, CA
- 2.7 10km WNW of Cobb, CA
- 2.2 6km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.6 7km E of Clearlake Oaks, CA
- 1.7 10km NNE of Cloverdale, CA
- 2.1 4km W of Cobb, CA
- 1.9 6km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 2.5 10km NNE of Cloverdale, CA
- 1.6 6km W of Cobb, CA
- 1.6 3km SSW of Anderson Springs, CA
- 1.8 2km NNW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.8 10km WNW of The Geysers, CA
- 2.4 10km WNW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.5 7km WNW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.9 2km SE of The Geysers, 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.