QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 2.1md

Earthquake near Willow Creek, CA

No earthquake was likely felt in Willow Creek in the 24 hours to 11:47 pm PST (07:47 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 2.1 earthquake was recorded 26 km (16 mi) east-southeast of Willow Creek, CA, at 11:13 pm PDT on 30 August 2022 (06:13 UTC), 31 km deep.

USGS: 26km ESE of Willow Creek, CA

11:13 pm PDT, Aug 30, 2022 · · 31 km deep · released about 49 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Willow Creek Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Trinity County 29 kmHumboldt County 50 kmSiskiyou County 108 kmShasta County 111 kmDel Norte County 114 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
11:13 pm PDT on 30 August 2022 ()
Where
26 km (16 mi) east-southeast of Willow Creek, CA · earthquakes near Willow Creek
Magnitude
M 2.1 (md)
Depth
31 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Trinity County, 29 km SE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1534 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, 26 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.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 49 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 310,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 220,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 19× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 49 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 10,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 4 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 6.4 The 1954 Eureka-Arcata, California Earthquake · 45 km W of this epicentre
  2. 5.6 15 km SW of Burnt Ranch, California · 26 km WSW of this epicentre
  3. 5.6 26 km NNW of Willow Creek, California · 50 km NW of this epicentre
  4. 5.4 3 km NNW of Burnt Ranch, California · 12 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 40.8377, -123.3540. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Trinity County, CA 29 km (18 mi) SE earthquakes near Trinity County
Humboldt County, CA 50 km (31 mi) WSW earthquakes near Humboldt County
Siskiyou County, CA 108 km (67 mi) NE earthquakes near Siskiyou County
Shasta County, CA 111 km (69 mi) E earthquakes near Shasta County
Del Norte County, CA 114 km (71 mi) NNW earthquakes near Del Norte County
Tehama County, CA 124 km (77 mi) SE earthquakes near Tehama County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.2 32 km ENE of Willow Creek, CA
  2. 2.1 30 km WNW of Hayfork, CA
  3. 2.3 17 km NE of Willow Creek, CA
  4. 2.1 18 km WNW of Willow Creek, CA
  5. 2.4 14 km SE of Weitchpec, CA
  6. 1.9 24 km SE of Bayside, CA
  7. 1.8 33 km WSW of Hayfork, CA
  8. 2.0 13 km SSE of Willow Creek, CA
  9. 2.3 30km S of Willow Creek, CA
  10. 2.0 15km SE of Blue Lake, CA
  11. 2.3 37km E of Hydesville, CA
  12. 2.1 18km S of Willow Creek, CA
  13. 2.5 17km SSE of Somes Bar, CA
  14. 2.1 8km ENE of Blue Lake, CA
  15. 1.8 34km E of Hydesville, 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.