QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.6md

Earthquake near McKinleyville, CA

No earthquake was likely felt in McKinleyville in the 24 hours to 8:21 pm PST (04:21 UTC). The last one was M 5.0, 139 km (86 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 McKinleyville

This page: a magnitude 2.6 earthquake was recorded in McKinleyville, CA, at 5:25 pm PDT on 14 October 2020 (00:25 UTC), 28 km deep. 5 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

USGS: 1km SE of McKinleyville, CA

5:25 pm PDT, Oct 14, 2020 · · 28 km deep · released about 280 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near McKinleyville Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Humboldt County 29 kmTrinity County 88 kmDel Norte County 90 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
5:25 pm PDT on 14 October 2020 ()
Where
in McKinleyville, CA · earthquakes near McKinleyville
Magnitude
M 2.6 (md)
Depth
28 km below the surface
Felt
5 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Nearest
Humboldt County, 29 km SSE
Nearest mapped fault
Mad River fault, under 1 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 2144 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 it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. 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: Arcata, Blue Lake, Bayside, Westhaven-Moonstone, Eureka, Myrtletown.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 280 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 53,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 38,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 3.3× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 280 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 4.8 on 2016-07-21 — about 1,700 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 19 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 7.2 The 1980 Eureka, California Earthquake · 24 km NW of this epicentre
  2. 6.5 The 1932 Eureka, California Earthquake · 29 km SW of this epicentre
  3. 6.4 Northwest of Eureka, California · 35 km W of this epicentre
  4. 6.4 The 1954 Eureka-Arcata, California Earthquake · 20 km ESE of this epicentre
  5. 6.0 Near Rio Dell, California · 50 km S 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 40.9405, -124.0898. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Humboldt County, CA 29 km (18 mi) SSE earthquakes near Humboldt County
Trinity County, CA 88 km (55 mi) ESE earthquakes near Trinity County
Del Norte County, CA 90 km (56 mi) N earthquakes near Del Norte County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.8 7km W of Weitchpec, CA
  2. 1.6 4km N of Hydesville, CA
  3. 1.7 15km ESE of Hydesville, CA
  4. 1.6 7km S of Ferndale, CA
  5. 2.6 6km SE of Ferndale, CA
  6. 1.8 11km SSE of Blue Lake, CA
  7. 1.8 4km N of Hydesville, CA
  8. 1.9 13km ENE of Hydesville, CA
  9. 1.7 4km NNW of Ferndale, CA
  10. 1.7 13km E of Hydesville, CA
  11. 2.1 7km SSE of Pine Hills, CA
  12. 1.9 17km W of Humboldt Hill, CA
  13. 2.4 12km SE of Weitchpec, CA
  14. 1.6 12km ENE of Hydesville, CA
  15. 1.7 33km ENE of Hydesville, 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.