QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.2md

Earthquake near Willow Creek, CA

No earthquake was likely felt in Willow Creek in the 24 hours to 1:26 am PST (09:26 UTC). The last one was M 5.0, 175 km (109 mi) WSW, at 8:56 pm PST on 4 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 145 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Willow Creek

This page: a magnitude 2.2 earthquake was recorded 3 km (2 mi) northwest of Willow Creek, CA, at 2:09 am PDT on 24 May 2021 (09:09 UTC), 23 km deep.

USGS: 3km NW of Willow Creek, CA

2:09 am PDT, May 24, 2021 · · 23 km deep · released about 64 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Willow Creek Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Humboldt County 36 kmTrinity County 57 kmDel Norte County 92 kmSiskiyou County 117 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
2:09 am PDT on 24 May 2021 ()
Where
3 km (2 mi) northwest of Willow Creek, CA · earthquakes near Willow Creek
Magnitude
M 2.2 (md)
Depth
23 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Humboldt County, 36 km SW
Nearest mapped fault
Bald Mountain-Big Lagoon fault, 19 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 1997 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. In Willow Creek, 3 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: Blue Lake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 64 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 230,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 170,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 15× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.2 about 64 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 4.8 on 2016-07-21 — about 7,700 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 10 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.4 The 1954 Eureka-Arcata, California Earthquake · 24 km WSW of this epicentre
  2. 5.8 Near Eureka, California · 34 km WSW of this epicentre
  3. 5.6 15 km SW of Burnt Ranch, California · 27 km S of this epicentre
  4. 5.6 26 km NNW of Willow Creek, California · 23 km NNW of this epicentre
  5. 5.4 3 km NNW of Burnt Ranch, California · 19 km SE 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 40.9598, -123.6543. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Humboldt County, CA 36 km (23 mi) SW earthquakes near Humboldt County
Trinity County, CA 57 km (36 mi) SE earthquakes near Trinity County
Del Norte County, CA 92 km (57 mi) NNW earthquakes near Del Norte County
Siskiyou County, CA 117 km (73 mi) NE earthquakes near Siskiyou County
Tehama County, CA 152 km (94 mi) SE earthquakes near Tehama County

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

48 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 2.1 22km E of Willow Creek, CA
  2. 2.4 22km SE of Blue Lake, CA
  3. 2.0 10km NNW of Willow Creek, CA
  4. 2.1 30km WNW of Weaverville, CA
  5. 2.9 30km WNW of Weaverville, CA
  6. 2.1 29km E of Hydesville, CA
  7. 2.5 30km SE of Blue Lake, CA
  8. 2.5 5km SSE of Weitchpec, CA
  9. 2.7 6km S of Weitchpec, CA
  10. 2.7 21km WNW of Weitchpec, CA
  11. 2.2 22km SSE of Willow Creek, CA
  12. 2.3 22km SSE of Willow Creek, CA
  13. 2.2 22km SSE of Willow Creek, CA
  14. 3.5 16km NE of Willow Creek, CA
  15. 3.0 19km SE of Willow Creek, 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

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.