Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change
M 2.1md
Earthquake near Ferndale, CA
Yes. A magnitude 2.1 earthquake was recorded 46 km (29 mi) southwest of Ferndale, CA, at 5:59 am PDT on 22 October 2026 (12:59 UTC), 17 km deep. No felt reports to USGS yet. The magnitude and location are an automatic first estimate and may change.
USGS: 30 km WSW of Petrolia, CA
- When
- 5:59 am PDT on 22 October 2026 ()
- Where
- 46 km (29 mi) southwest of Ferndale, CA · earthquakes near Ferndale
- Magnitude
- M 2.1 (md)
- Depth
- 17 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Humboldt County, 77 km NE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Mattole Canyon fault, 15 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 4 hours ago
Earthquake alerts for Ferndale, CA
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Ferndale, 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 4 km (2 mi) from the epicentre. In Ferndale, 46 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.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 43 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.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 350,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 250,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 22× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 2.1 about 43 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 7.0 on 2024-12-05 — about 22,000,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 41 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 7.2 The 1992 Petrolia, California Earthquake · 34 km ENE of this epicentre
- 6.6 32 km SW of Ferndale, California · 15 km NNE of this epicentre
- 6.5 30 km WSW of Ferndale, California · 20 km NNE of this epicentre
- 6.5 The 2010 Eureka, California Earthquake · 44 km N of this epicentre
- 6.0 Near Rio Dell, California · 45 km NE 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 40.2595, -124.6223. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Humboldt County, CA | 77 km (48 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Humboldt County |
| Mendocino County, CA | 136 km (85 mi) | SE | earthquakes near Mendocino 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.
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.