QuakeIndex

Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change

M 2.1md

Earthquake near Nice, CA

USGS: 17 km NE of Nice, CA

3:11 pm PDT, Oct 1, 2026 · · -0.3 km deep · released about 41 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Lake County 15 kmColusa County 44 kmGlenn County 49 kmMendocino County 64 kmSonoma County 82 kmNapa County 90 kmSutter County 92 kmYolo County 96 kmTehama County 107 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
3:11 pm PDT on 1 October 2026 ()
Where
17 km (10 mi) NE of Nice, CA · earthquakes near Nice
Magnitude
M 2.1 (md)
Depth
-0.3 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Lake County, 15 km S
Nearest mapped fault
Bartlett Springs fault system, 5 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 27 hours ago

A magnitude 2.1 earthquake was recorded 17 km (10 mi) NE of Nice, CA, at 3:11 pm PDT on 1 October 2026 (22:11 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Upper Lake, North Lakeport, Clearlake Oaks, Lakeport, Soda Bay.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 41 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 5.8 370,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 260,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 23× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 41 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 5.6 on 2026-06-24 — about 180,000 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 · 34 km WSW 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 39.2467, -122.7362. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Lake County, CA 15 km (10 mi) S earthquakes near Lake County
Colusa County, CA 44 km (27 mi) E earthquakes near Colusa County
Glenn County, CA 49 km (30 mi) NE earthquakes near Glenn County
Mendocino County, CA 64 km (40 mi) WNW earthquakes near Mendocino County
Sonoma County, CA 82 km (51 mi) SSW earthquakes near Sonoma County
Napa County, CA 90 km (56 mi) SSE earthquakes near Napa County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 0.7 8 km NW of The Geysers, CA
  2. 0.9 8 km NW of The Geysers, CA
  3. 1.1 8 km NW of The Geysers, CA
  4. 1.1 8 km NW of The Geysers, CA
  5. 0.7 5 km NNW of The Geysers, CA
  6. 1.0 7 km WNW of The Geysers, CA
  7. 0.5 13 km ENE of Cloverdale, CA
  8. 1.0 7 km NW of The Geysers, CA
  9. 1.1 7 km NW of The Geysers, CA
  10. 0.4 9 km NW of The Geysers, CA
  11. 0.8 8 km NW of The Geysers, CA
  12. 1.1 6 km WNW of The Geysers, CA
  13. 0.7 4 km W of Cobb, CA
  14. 0.3 6 km NW of The Geysers, CA
  15. 0.7 4 km W of Cobb, 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.