Earthquake near Ferndale, CA

No earthquake was likely felt in Ferndale in the 24 hours to 9:14 am PST (17:14 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 15 km (9 mi) west-southwest of Ferndale, CA, at 4:23 am PDT on 3 July 2025 (11:23 UTC), 20 km deep.

USGS: 15 km WSW of Ferndale, CA

4:23 am PDT, Jul 3, 2025 · 2025-07-03 11:23 UTC · 20 km deep · released about 16 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Ferndale Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area

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: 4:23 am PDT on 3 July 2025 (2025-07-03 11:23 UTC)
Where: 15 km (9 mi) west-southwest of Ferndale, CA · earthquakes near Ferndale
Magnitude: M 1.8 (md)
Depth: 20 km below the surface
Felt: no reports yet
Nearest: Humboldt County, 47 km ENE
Status: Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS 491 days ago · we first saw it 491 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 Ferndale, 15 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: Fortuna, Rio Dell, Hydesville.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 16 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 5.8 930,000× the energy of this one
Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 660,000× the energy of this one
Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 59× the energy of this one
This earthquake M 1.8 about 16 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 6.4 on 2022-12-20 — about 7,400,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 46 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

7.2 The 1992 Petrolia, California Earthquake · 27 km SE of this epicentre Apr 25, 1992
6.6 32 km SW of Ferndale, California · 19 km SW of this epicentre Apr 26, 1992
6.5 The 1932 Eureka, California Earthquake · 26 km NNE of this epicentre Jun 6, 1932
6.5 30 km WSW of Ferndale, California · 15 km SW of this epicentre Apr 26, 1992
6.5 The 2010 Eureka, California Earthquake · 27 km WNW of this epicentre Jan 10, 2010

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

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Nearby places

Place	Distance	Direction from the epicentre
Humboldt County, CA	47 km (29 mi)	ENE	earthquakes near Humboldt County
Trinity County, CA	112 km (69 mi)	E	earthquakes near Trinity County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 17:14 UTC. 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.