Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.7md
Earthquake near Hidden Valley Lake, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Hidden Valley Lake in the 24 hours to 11:01 pm PST (07:01 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 1.7 earthquake was recorded 14 km (9 mi) east-northeast of Hidden Valley Lake, CA, at 7:47 am PST on 26 January 2020 (15:47 UTC), 17 km deep.
USGS: 14km ENE of Hidden Valley Lake, CA
53 km (33 mi) NNE of Santa Rosa, CA · 121 km (75 mi) N of San Francisco, CA
- When
- 7:47 am PST on 26 January 2020 ()
- Where
- 14 km (9 mi) east-northeast of Hidden Valley Lake, CA · earthquakes near Hidden Valley Lake
- Magnitude
- M 1.7 (md)
- Depth
- 17 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Colusa County, 38 km NNE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Hunting Creek-Berryessa fault system, 2 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 2480 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Hidden Valley Lake, CA
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Hidden Valley Lake, CA. No account or email needed.
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 it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. In Hidden Valley Lake, 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.
Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Lower Lake, Clearlake, Middletown, Cobb, Clear Lake Riviera, Clearlake Oaks.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 11 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,300,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 930,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 83× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.7 about 11 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 86,000 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 38.8673, -122.4132. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colusa County, CA | 38 km (23 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Colusa County |
| Lake County, CA | 39 km (24 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Lake County |
| Napa County, CA | 41 km (25 mi) | S | earthquakes near Napa County |
| Yolo County, CA | 49 km (30 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Yolo County |
| Sonoma County, CA | 59 km (36 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Sonoma County |
| Sutter County, CA | 64 km (40 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.
- 1.5 7km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 2.0 7km W of Cobb, CA
- 1.5 7km W of Cobb, CA
- 3.7 7km W of Cobb, CA
- 1.6 7km WSW of Clearlake, CA
- 1.8 14km E of Angwin, CA
- 1.6 15km E of Angwin, CA
- 2.1 2km N of The Geysers, CA
- 1.5 7km WNW of Cobb, CA
- 1.7 6km WNW of Cobb, CA
- 3.7 6km WNW of Cobb, CA
- 2.8 6km W of Cobb, CA
- 1.5 7km WSW of Clearlake, CA
- 2.2 5km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 2.1 4km WNW of Cobb, 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.