Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.8md
Earthquake near Ferndale, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Ferndale in the 24 hours to 5:16 am PST (13:16 UTC). The last one was M 5.0, 113 km (70 mi) W, at 8:56 pm PST on 4 November 2026, estimated intensity III (weak) in town; 145 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Ferndale
This page: a magnitude 1.8 earthquake was recorded 18 km (11 mi) west-northwest of Ferndale, CA, at 5:53 am PDT on 2 May 2021 (12:53 UTC), 9.7 km deep.
USGS: 18km WNW of Ferndale, CA
- When
- 5:53 am PDT on 2 May 2021 ()
- Where
- 18 km (11 mi) west-northwest of Ferndale, CA · earthquakes near Ferndale
- Magnitude
- M 1.8 (md)
- Depth
- 9.7 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Humboldt County, 44 km E
- Nearest mapped fault
- Little Salmon fault, 21 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 2019 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Ferndale, CA
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Ferndale, 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 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 9 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In Ferndale, 18 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: Humboldt Hill, Bayview, Fortuna, Pine Hills, Cutten, Eureka.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 15 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,000,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 730,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 65× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.8 about 15 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 5.6 on 2019-06-23 — about 480,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 40 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 7.2 The 1992 Petrolia, California Earthquake · 41 km SSE of this epicentre
- 6.6 32 km SW of Ferndale, California · 33 km SSW of this epicentre
- 6.5 The 1932 Eureka, California Earthquake · 15 km ENE of this epicentre
- 6.5 30 km WSW of Ferndale, California · 28 km SSW of this epicentre
- 6.5 The 2010 Eureka, California Earthquake · 21 km W 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 40.6670, -124.4455. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Humboldt County, CA | 44 km (27 mi) | E | earthquakes near Humboldt County |
| Trinity County, CA | 112 km (70 mi) | E | earthquakes near Trinity 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.
- 2.7 33km WNW of Petrolia, CA
- 2.8 40km WNW of Petrolia, CA
- 1.7 16km SW of Ferndale, CA
- 2.8 56km WNW of Petrolia, CA
- 4.3 12km WSW of Petrolia, CA
- 2.5 19km SE of Bayside, CA
- 2.1 4km SW of Petrolia, CA
- 2.4 9km W of Petrolia, CA
- 5.1 12km W of Petrolia, CA
- 2.4 21km W of Petrolia, CA
- 2.4 8km WSW of Petrolia, CA
- 1.8 9km SSW of Ferndale, CA
- 1.6 9km SSW of Ferndale, CA
- 1.7 9km SSW of Ferndale, CA
- 2.0 22km W of Petrolia, 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.