Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change
M 2.8md
Earthquake near Hydesville, CA
USGS: 5 km NE of Hydesville, CA
- When
- 8:56 am PDT on 5 October 2026 ()
- Where
- 5 km (3 mi) NE of Hydesville, CA · earthquakes near Hydesville
- Magnitude
- M 2.8 (md)
- Depth
- 21 km below the surface
- Felt
- 7 reports · strongest reported intensity III
- Nearest
- Humboldt County, 18 km NE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Little Salmon fault, under 1 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 1 hour ago
A magnitude 2.8 earthquake was recorded 5 km (3 mi) NE of Hydesville, CA, at 8:56 am PDT on 5 October 2026 (15:56 UTC). 7 people have reported feeling it to USGS. This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.
Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Rio Dell, Fortuna, Ferndale, Pine Hills, Humboldt Hill, Cutten.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 490 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 31,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 22,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 1.9× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 2.8 about 490 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 240,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 33 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 7.2 The 1992 Petrolia, California Earthquake · 31 km SSW of this epicentre
- 6.6 32 km SW of Ferndale, California · 48 km WSW of this epicentre
- 6.5 The 1932 Eureka, California Earthquake · 27 km NW of this epicentre
- 6.5 30 km WSW of Ferndale, California · 46 km WSW of this epicentre
- 6.4 The 1954 Eureka-Arcata, California Earthquake · 33 km NNE 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 40.5732, -124.0485. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Humboldt County, CA | 18 km (11 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Humboldt County |
| Trinity County, CA | 79 km (49 mi) | E | earthquakes near Trinity County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
No further 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 . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.
Revisions
USGS refines a solution as more stations report. Every change we have seen is listed here.
| What changed | From | To | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| reported intensity | 2.1 | 2.7 | |
| felt reports | 4 | 7 | |
| reported intensity | 0 | 2.1 | |
| felt reports | 3 | 4 | |
| reported intensity | not reported | 0 | |
| felt reports | not reported | 3 |
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.