Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 4.4mw
Earthquake near Lakeport, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Lakeport in the 24 hours to 1:38 am PST (09:38 UTC). The last one was M 4.0, 51 km (32 mi) N, at 5:01 am PDT on 28 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 14 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Lakeport
This page: a magnitude 4.4 earthquake was recorded 13 km (8 mi) west of Lakeport, CA, at 7:03 am PST on 6 December 2020 (15:03 UTC), 5.0 km deep. 1,174 people have reported feeling it to USGS.
USGS: 13km W of Lakeport, CA
- When
- 7:03 am PST on 6 December 2020 ()
- Where
- 13 km (8 mi) west of Lakeport, CA · earthquakes near Lakeport
- Magnitude
- M 4.4 (mw)
- Depth
- 5.0 km below the surface
- Felt
- 1,174 reports · strongest reported intensity V
- Measured shaking
- intensity VI (ShakeMap)
- USGS impact alert
- green
- Tsunami
- USGS flagged this event for tsunami evaluation. Follow tsunami.gov for official messages.
- Nearest
- Lake County, 29 km ENE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Maacama fault, 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 2098 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Lakeport, CA
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Lakeport, 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 light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 129 km (80 mi) from the epicentre. In Lakeport, 13 km away, the estimate is intensity IV (light). 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: Lakeport 13 km, intensity IV · Ukiah 17 km, intensity IV · Upper Lake 20 km, intensity IV · Boonville 26 km, intensity III · Cloverdale 26 km, intensity III · Cobb 38 km, intensity III · Clearlake 39 km, intensity III · Willits 48 km, intensity III. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 58 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.4 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 2,900× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 130× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 92× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 4.4 about 58 tons of TNT
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 120× 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 5.1 on 2016-08-10 — about 11 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 5.2 6 km ESE of Talmage, California · 9 km NNW 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 39.0377, -123.0672. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake County, CA | 29 km (18 mi) | ENE | earthquakes near Lake County |
| Mendocino County, CA | 55 km (34 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Mendocino County |
| Sonoma County, CA | 58 km (36 mi) | SSE | earthquakes near Sonoma County |
| Colusa County, CA | 73 km (46 mi) | ENE | earthquakes near Colusa County |
| Glenn County, CA | 85 km (53 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Glenn County |
| Napa County, CA | 87 km (54 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Napa County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
59 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.9 13km W of Lakeport, CA
- 2.0 2km S of Anderson Springs, CA
- 1.9 16km W of Ukiah, CA
- 1.8 7km WNW of The Geysers, CA
- 2.8 2km NNW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.7 9km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.6 5km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.6 3km NNW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.8 3km S of Cobb, CA
- 2.2 1km WNW of The Geysers, CA
- 2.4 4km NNW of Redwood Valley, CA
- 2.0 18km NE of Sea Ranch, CA
- 1.7 18km ESE of Boonville, CA
- 1.7 7km W of Cobb, CA
- 1.5 6km NW 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.