Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.7md
Earthquake near Willits, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Willits in the 24 hours to 1:27 am PST (09:27 UTC). The last one was M 1.5, 9 km (5 mi) ESE, at 10:30 pm PST on 2 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Willits
This page: a magnitude 1.7 earthquake was recorded 16 km (10 mi) northeast of Willits, CA, at 4:47 pm PDT on 23 April 2021 (23:47 UTC), 6.4 km deep.
USGS: 16km NE of Willits, CA
- When
- 4:47 pm PDT on 23 April 2021 ()
- Where
- 16 km (10 mi) northeast of Willits, CA · earthquakes near Willits
- Magnitude
- M 1.7 (md)
- Depth
- 6.4 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Mendocino County, 22 km WSW
- Nearest mapped fault
- Maacama fault, 15 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 2028 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Willits, 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 11 km (7 mi) from the epicentre. In Willits, 16 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: Brooktrails, Redwood Valley.
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 5.1 on 2016-08-10 — about 110,000 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 · 43 km SSE 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 39.4948, -123.1998. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mendocino County, CA | 22 km (14 mi) | WSW | earthquakes near Mendocino County |
| Lake County, CA | 58 km (36 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Lake County |
| Glenn County, CA | 69 km (43 mi) | E | earthquakes near Glenn County |
| Colusa County, CA | 90 km (56 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Colusa County |
| Tehama County, CA | 108 km (67 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Tehama County |
| Sonoma County, CA | 110 km (69 mi) | SSE | earthquakes near Sonoma County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
57 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.5 7km ESE of Willits, CA
- 1.8 4km NNE of Lake Pillsbury, CA
- 2.7 15km ESE of Lake Pillsbury, CA
- 1.9 4km NNW of Laytonville, CA
- 1.8 10km SE of Willits, CA
- 1.6 8km ENE of Willits, CA
- 1.8 6km N of Lake Pillsbury, CA
- 1.8 16km NE of Upper Lake, CA
- 2.0 11km W of Alder Springs, CA
- 1.9 14km SE of Lake Pillsbury, CA
- 1.5 10km SE of Willits, CA
- 1.9 10km SE of Willits, CA
- 1.9 5km SSE of Redwood Valley, CA
- 1.9 6km SSE of Redwood Valley, CA
- 1.5 16km E of Navarro Head, 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.