Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change
M 1.5md
Earthquake near Santa Rosa, CA
Yes. A magnitude 1.5 earthquake was recorded 44 km (27 mi) north-northwest of Santa Rosa, CA, at 10:52 pm PDT on 21 October 2026 (05:52 UTC), 2.1 km deep. No felt reports to USGS yet. The magnitude and location are an automatic first estimate and may change.
USGS: 7 km NW of The Geysers, CA
43 km (27 mi) NNW of Santa Rosa, CA · 121 km (75 mi) NNW of San Francisco, CA
- When
- 10:52 pm PDT on 21 October 2026 ()
- Where
- 44 km (27 mi) north-northwest of Santa Rosa, CA · earthquakes near Santa Rosa
- Magnitude
- M 1.5 (md)
- Depth
- 2.1 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Lake County, 32 km N
- Nearest mapped fault
- Konocti Bay 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 1 hour 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 minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 10 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In Santa Rosa, 44 km away, the estimate is intensity I (not felt). 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 8 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 5.4 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 180× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.4 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 180,000 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 · 40 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 38.8262, -122.8142. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake County, CA | 32 km (20 mi) | N | earthquakes near Lake County |
| Sonoma County, CA | 35 km (22 mi) | SSW | earthquakes near Sonoma County |
| Napa County, CA | 55 km (34 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Napa County |
| Colusa County, CA | 63 km (39 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Colusa County |
| Yolo County, CA | 81 km (50 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Yolo County |
| Marin County, CA | 86 km (54 mi) | S | earthquakes near Marin County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
4 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 0.8 6 km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.6 2 km NNW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.3 7 km NW of The Geysers, CA
- 1.4 12 km NNE of Angwin, 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
- 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.