Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change
M 2.5md
Earthquake near Santa Rosa, CA
Yes. A magnitude 2.5 earthquake was recorded 39 km (24 mi) north of Santa Rosa, CA, at 9:23 am PDT on 20 October 2026 (16:23 UTC), less than 1 km deep. 1 person has reported feeling it to USGS. The magnitude and location are an automatic first estimate and may change.
USGS: 2 km NW of The Geysers, CA
38 km (24 mi) N of Santa Rosa, CA · 116 km (72 mi) NNW of San Francisco, CA
- When
- 9:23 am PDT on 20 October 2026 ()
- Where
- 39 km (24 mi) north of Santa Rosa, CA · earthquakes near Santa Rosa
- Magnitude
- M 2.5 (md)
- Depth
- 0.5 km below the surface
- Felt
- 1 report · strongest reported intensity II
- 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
- Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 48 minutes ago
Earthquake alerts for Santa Rosa, CA
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Santa Rosa, 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 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 22 km (14 mi) from the epicentre. In Santa Rosa, 39 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 III · Middletown 14 km, intensity II · Healdsburg 21 km, intensity II · Cloverdale 21 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 180 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.5 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 86,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 61,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 5.4× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 2.5 about 180 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 5.0 on 2016-12-14 — about 5,600 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 5.2 6 km ESE of Talmage, California · 46 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 38.7867, -122.7717. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction 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 | 50 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 | 82 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
2 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 | not reported | 2 | |
| felt reports | not reported | 1 |
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.