Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.7md
Earthquake near Nice, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Nice in the 24 hours to 9:04 am PST (17:04 UTC). The last one was M 4.0, 43 km (27 mi) NNW, at 5:01 am PDT on 28 October 2026, estimated intensity III (weak) in town; 14 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Nice
This page: a magnitude 1.7 earthquake was recorded 17 km (11 mi) north-northeast of Nice, CA, at 3:48 pm PST on 25 January 2021 (23:48 UTC), 12 km deep.
USGS: 17km NNE of Nice, CA
- When
- 3:48 pm PST on 25 January 2021 ()
- Where
- 17 km (11 mi) north-northeast of Nice, CA · earthquakes near Nice
- Magnitude
- M 1.7 (md)
- Depth
- 12 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Lake County, 16 km S
- Nearest mapped fault
- Bartlett Springs fault system, 4 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 2116 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Nice, 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 5 km (3 mi) from the epicentre. In Nice, 17 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: Upper Lake, North Lakeport, Clearlake Oaks, Lakeport, Soda Bay.
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 1,400,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 970,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 86× 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 5.1 on 2016-08-10 — about 120,000 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 · 34 km WSW 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 39.2560, -122.7448. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake County, CA | 16 km (10 mi) | S | earthquakes near Lake County |
| Colusa County, CA | 45 km (28 mi) | E | earthquakes near Colusa County |
| Glenn County, CA | 49 km (30 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Glenn County |
| Mendocino County, CA | 63 km (39 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near Mendocino County |
| Sonoma County, CA | 83 km (51 mi) | S | earthquakes near Sonoma County |
| Napa County, CA | 91 km (56 mi) | SSE | earthquakes near Napa County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
56 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.6 5km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.6 7km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 2.2 7km WNW of The Geysers, CA
- 3.8 7km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.7 8km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.6 5km N of Lake Pillsbury, CA
- 2.2 8km WNW of Cobb, CA
- 1.6 8km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.5 4km W of Cobb, CA
- 1.8 6km WNW of Cobb, CA
- 1.5 5km E of Clearlake Oaks, CA
- 1.6 8km WNW of The Geysers, CA
- 2.1 5km WNW of Cobb, CA
- 1.7 9km WNW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.7 8km 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.