Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.7md
Earthquake near Willows, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Willows in the 24 hours to 2:07 pm PST (22:07 UTC). The last one was M 4.0, 65 km (40 mi) W, at 5:01 am PDT on 28 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 14 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Willows
This page: a magnitude 1.7 earthquake was recorded 50 km (31 mi) west-northwest of Willows, CA, at 6:49 pm PDT on 14 April 2025 (01:49 UTC), 8.2 km deep.
USGS: 5 km SW of Alder Springs, CA
- When
- 6:49 pm PDT on 14 April 2025 ()
- Where
- 50 km (31 mi) west-northwest of Willows, CA · earthquakes near Willows
- Magnitude
- M 1.7 (md)
- Depth
- 8.2 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Glenn County, 31 km E
- Nearest mapped fault
- Bartlett Springs fault system, 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 574 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Willows, CA
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Willows, 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 Willows, 50 km away, the estimate is intensity I (not felt). 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 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 1,400,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 970,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 86× 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 120,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record since 1900 lists no earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km.
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 39.6148, -122.7600. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glenn County, CA | 31 km (19 mi) | E | earthquakes near Glenn County |
| Lake County, CA | 56 km (35 mi) | S | earthquakes near Lake County |
| Mendocino County, CA | 62 km (39 mi) | WSW | earthquakes near Mendocino County |
| Colusa County, CA | 66 km (41 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Colusa County |
| Tehama County, CA | 73 km (45 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Tehama County |
| Butte County, CA | 99 km (62 mi) | E | earthquakes near Butte County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
41 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.7 15 km W of Lake Pillsbury, CA
- 1.7 18 km NE of Upper Lake, CA
- 1.7 17 km SE of Lake Pillsbury, CA
- 1.6 21 km NW of Alder Springs, CA
- 1.6 21 km NW of Alder Springs, CA
- 1.9 20 km NW of Alder Springs, CA
- 1.9 16 km E of Lake Pillsbury, CA
- 1.8 6 km SE of Lake Pillsbury, CA
- 1.5 9 km WNW of Alder Springs, CA
- 1.7 18 km N of Stony Gorge Reservoir, CA
- 1.9 39 km NE of Covelo, CA
- 1.7 20 km NW of Alder Springs, CA
- 1.6 13 km of Lake Pillsbury, CA
- 2.1 13 km WNW of Lake Pillsbury, CA
- 1.7 5 km NNW of Lake Pillsbury, 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.