QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.3ml

Earthquake near Willow Creek, CA

No earthquake was likely felt in Willow Creek in the 24 hours to 2:52 am PST (10:52 UTC). The last one was M 5.0, 175 km (109 mi) WSW, at 8:56 pm PST on 4 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 145 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Willow Creek

This page: a magnitude 3.3 earthquake was recorded 14 km (9 mi) east-southeast of Willow Creek, CA, at 2:59 pm PST on 1 January 2019 (22:59 UTC), 23 km deep. 16 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

USGS: 14km ESE of Willow Creek, CA

2:59 pm PST, Jan 1, 2019 · · 23 km deep · released about 1.2 tons of TNT

Every earthquake near Willow Creek Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Trinity County 41 kmHumboldt County 43 kmDel Norte County 105 kmSiskiyou County 111 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
2:59 pm PST on 1 January 2019 ()
Where
14 km (9 mi) east-southeast of Willow Creek, CA · earthquakes near Willow Creek
Magnitude
M 3.3 (ml)
Depth
23 km below the surface
Felt
16 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Trinity County, 41 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2805 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 44 km (27 mi) from the epicentre. In Willow Creek, 14 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.

Likely felt in: Willow Creek 14 km, intensity II · Hayfork 45 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.2 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 140,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 6,500× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 4,600× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.3 about 1.2 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2.5× more

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 4.8 on 2016-07-21 — about 210 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 7 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.4 The 1954 Eureka-Arcata, California Earthquake · 35 km W of this epicentre
  2. 5.8 Near Eureka, California · 45 km WSW of this epicentre
  3. 5.6 15 km SW of Burnt Ranch, California · 22 km SSW of this epicentre
  4. 5.6 26 km NNW of Willow Creek, California · 39 km NW of this epicentre
  5. 5.4 3 km NNW of Burnt Ranch, California · 6 km SSW 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 40.8870, -123.4777. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Trinity County, CA 41 km (25 mi) SE earthquakes near Trinity County
Humboldt County, CA 43 km (27 mi) WSW earthquakes near Humboldt County
Del Norte County, CA 105 km (65 mi) NNW earthquakes near Del Norte County
Siskiyou County, CA 111 km (69 mi) NE earthquakes near Siskiyou County
Tehama County, CA 135 km (84 mi) SE earthquakes near Tehama County

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

Aftershocks so far

50 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 2.3 27km SE of Willow Creek, CA
  2. 2.1 7km SE of Willow Creek, CA
  3. 2.3 26km WSW of Hayfork, CA
  4. 1.8 19km E of Willow Creek, CA
  5. 1.9 6km N of Hayfork, CA
  6. 2.2 18km E of Willow Creek, CA
  7. 2.8 22km NE of Willow Creek, CA
  8. 2.6 21km NE of Willow Creek, CA
  9. 1.6 28km W of Hayfork, CA
  10. 2.3 11km NNW of Weitchpec, CA
  11. 1.9 7km N of Hayfork, CA
  12. 2.6 17km SSE of Blue Lake, CA
  13. 2.9 18km ESE of Weitchpec, CA
  14. 2.4 16km SW of Willow Creek, CA
  15. 2.2 37km W of Hayfork, 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

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