QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.8mw

Earthquake near Santa Rosa, CA

No earthquake was likely felt in Santa Rosa in the 24 hours to 4:38 am PST (12:38 UTC). The last one was M 1.9, 5 km (3 mi) NE, at 2:01 pm PDT on 23 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Santa Rosa

This page: a magnitude 3.8 earthquake was recorded 38 km (24 mi) north of Santa Rosa, CA, at 9:11 am PST on 27 November 2025 (17:11 UTC), 1.2 km deep. 5 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

USGS: 1 km NW of The Geysers, CA

38 km (24 mi) N of Santa Rosa, CA · 116 km (72 mi) NNW of San Francisco, CA

9:11 am PST, Nov 27, 2025 · · 1.2 km deep · released about 6.6 tons of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Sonoma County 32 kmLake County 36 kmNapa County 49 kmColusa County 63 kmYolo County 76 kmMarin County 81 kmSolano County 92 kmMendocino County 93 kmSutter County 96 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
9:11 am PST on 27 November 2025 ()
Where
38 km (24 mi) north of Santa Rosa, CA · earthquakes near Santa Rosa
Magnitude
M 3.8 (mw)
Depth
1.2 km below the surface
Felt
5 reports · strongest reported intensity V
Measured shaking
intensity IV (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Sonoma County, 32 km SSW
Nearest mapped fault
Maacama fault, 10 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 261 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, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 80 km (50 mi) from the epicentre. In Santa Rosa, 38 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.

Likely felt in: Cobb 6 km, intensity IV · Healdsburg 21 km, intensity III · Cloverdale 22 km, intensity III · Clearlake 23 km, intensity III · Windsor 27 km, intensity III · Calistoga 28 km, intensity III · Lakeport 32 km, intensity III · Angwin 36 km, intensity III. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 6.6 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 26,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,100× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 810× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.8 about 6.6 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 14× more

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 5.0 on 2016-12-14 — about 75 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.2 6 km ESE of Talmage, California · 47 km NW 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 38.7840, -122.7677. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Sonoma County, CA 32 km (20 mi) SSW earthquakes near Sonoma County
Lake County, CA 36 km (22 mi) N earthquakes near Lake County
Napa County, CA 49 km (31 mi) SE earthquakes near Napa County
Colusa County, CA 63 km (39 mi) NE earthquakes near Colusa County
Yolo County, CA 76 km (47 mi) E earthquakes near Yolo County
Marin County, CA 81 km (51 mi) S earthquakes near Marin County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 3.1 6 km SW of Kenwood, CA
  2. 4.0 6 km W of Glen Ellen, CA
  3. 1.5 2 km NNE of The Geysers, CA
  4. 2.1 14 km ESE of Boonville, CA
  5. 2.1 8 km NW of The Geysers, CA
  6. 1.7 13 km NW of The Geysers, CA
  7. 2.3 6 km WNW of Cobb, CA
  8. 1.7 10 km E of Cloverdale, CA
  9. 1.6 6 km WNW of Cobb, CA
  10. 2.2 6 km NW of The Geysers, CA
  11. 2.4 7 km WSW of Kenwood, CA
  12. 1.6 4 km W of Cobb, CA
  13. 1.8 9 km WNW of The Geysers, CA
  14. 1.7 2 km NE of The Geysers, CA
  15. 2.1 7 km NW of The Geysers, 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.