QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.7md

Earthquake near McKinleyville, CA

No earthquake was likely felt in McKinleyville in the 24 hours to 6:58 pm PST (02:58 UTC). The last one was M 5.0, 139 km (86 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 McKinleyville

This page: a magnitude 2.7 earthquake was recorded 39 km (24 mi) north-northeast of McKinleyville, CA, at 10:49 pm PDT on 17 April 2022 (05:49 UTC), 30 km deep.

USGS: 21km WNW of Weitchpec, CA

10:49 pm PDT, Apr 17, 2022 · · 30 km deep · released about 320 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near McKinleyville Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Del Norte County 53 kmHumboldt County 63 kmTrinity County 98 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
10:49 pm PDT on 17 April 2022 ()
Where
39 km (24 mi) north-northeast of McKinleyville, CA · earthquakes near McKinleyville
Magnitude
M 2.7 (md)
Depth
30 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Del Norte County, 53 km N
Nearest mapped fault
Bald Mountain-Big Lagoon fault, 16 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 1601 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. In McKinleyville, 39 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: Westhaven-Moonstone.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 320 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 48,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 34,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 3× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.7 about 320 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 4.4 on 2019-02-06 — about 370 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 6 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 7.2 The 1980 Eureka, California Earthquake · 32 km WSW of this epicentre
  2. 6.4 The 1954 Eureka-Arcata, California Earthquake · 48 km S of this epicentre
  3. 5.6 26 km NNW of Willow Creek, California · 19 km SE of this epicentre
  4. 5.0 3 km SSE of McKinleyville, California · 42 km SSW of this epicentre
  5. 5.0 4 km NE of Fieldbrook, California · 31 km S 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 41.2768, -123.9312. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Del Norte County, CA 53 km (33 mi) N earthquakes near Del Norte County
Humboldt County, CA 63 km (39 mi) S earthquakes near Humboldt County
Trinity County, CA 98 km (61 mi) SE earthquakes near Trinity County
Siskiyou County, CA 122 km (76 mi) ENE earthquakes near Siskiyou County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.5 14 km SSW of Bertsch-Oceanview, CA
  2. 2.8 18 km SSE of Klamath, CA
  3. 2.6 23 km ESE of Weitchpec, CA
  4. 2.7 13 km SSW of Bertsch-Oceanview, CA
  5. 2.0 9 km WNW of Willow Creek, CA
  6. 2.2 6 km W of Klamath, CA
  7. 2.1 5 km ENE of Willow Creek, CA
  8. 2.5 17 km SSE of Klamath, CA
  9. 3.0 17 km SSE of Klamath, CA
  10. 2.0 11 km ESE of Blue Lake, CA
  11. 2.0 4 km ENE of Blue Lake, CA
  12. 2.3 3 km ESE of Willow Creek, CA
  13. 2.4 19 km ENE of Willow Creek, CA
  14. 2.5 14 km NW of Trinidad, CA
  15. 4.0 9 km SE of Blue Lake, 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.