Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.6md
Earthquake near Redwood Valley, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Redwood Valley in the 24 hours to 7:53 pm PST (03:53 UTC). The last one was M 1.5, 7 km (5 mi) SE, at 12:31 pm PST on 11 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Redwood Valley
This page: a magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 14 km (9 mi) east-southeast of Redwood Valley, CA, at 6:23 am PST on 26 January 2021 (14:23 UTC), 8.4 km deep. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS.
USGS: 14km ESE of Redwood Valley, CA
92 km (57 mi) NNW of Santa Rosa, CA
- When
- 6:23 am PST on 26 January 2021 ()
- Where
- 14 km (9 mi) east-southeast of Redwood Valley, CA · earthquakes near Redwood Valley
- Magnitude
- M 1.6 (md)
- Depth
- 8.4 km below the surface
- Felt
- 1 report
- Nearest
- Lake County, 30 km ESE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Maacama fault, 13 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 2115 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Redwood Valley, 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 7 km (4 mi) from the epicentre. In Redwood Valley, 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: Upper Lake, Talmage, Ukiah, North Lakeport, Nice, Lakeport.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 6.8 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,200,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,600,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 140× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.6 about 6.8 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 190,000 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 · 13 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 39.2318, -123.0508. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake County, CA | 30 km (18 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Lake County |
| Mendocino County, CA | 40 km (25 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near Mendocino County |
| Glenn County, CA | 69 km (43 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Glenn County |
| Colusa County, CA | 70 km (44 mi) | E | earthquakes near Colusa County |
| Sonoma County, CA | 79 km (49 mi) | S | earthquakes near Sonoma County |
| Napa County, CA | 102 km (63 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Napa County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
39 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.8 6km WNW of Cobb, CA
- 1.5 5km E of Clearlake Oaks, CA
- 2.1 5km WNW of Cobb, CA
- 1.7 9km WNW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.7 8km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.5 8km SSW of Kelseyville, CA
- 1.7 12km W of Lakeport, CA
- 1.5 21km ENE of Navarro Head, CA
- 1.9 10km ESE of Redwood Valley, CA
- 2.0 6km ENE of Lake Pillsbury, CA
- 1.7 11km N of Lake Pillsbury, CA
- 2.0 8km W of Cobb, CA
- 2.6 10km ESE of Redwood Valley, CA
- 1.6 10km WNW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.5 7km 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.