Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change
M 1.5ml
Earthquake near Fernley, NV
No earthquake was likely felt in Fernley in the 24 hours to 2:47 pm PDT (21:47 UTC). The last one was M 2.3, 14 km (9 mi) E, at 7:39 pm PDT on 18 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Fernley
This page: a magnitude 1.5 earthquake was recorded 14 km (8 mi) east of Fernley, NV, at 7:47 pm PDT on 18 October 2026 (02:47 UTC), 8.2 km deep. The magnitude and location are an automatic first estimate and may change.
USGS: 13 km E of Fernley, Nevada
65 km (40 mi) E of Reno, NV · 53 km (33 mi) E of Sparks, NV
- When
- 7:47 pm PDT on 18 October 2026 ()
- Where
- 14 km (8 mi) east of Fernley, NV · earthquakes near Fernley
- Magnitude
- M 1.5 (ml)
- Depth
- 8.2 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Storey County, 40 km WSW
- Nearest mapped fault
- Hot Springs Mountains fault, 4 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 2 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Fernley, NV
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Fernley, NV. 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 6 km (4 mi) from the epicentre. In Fernley, 14 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.
Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Silver Springs.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 5.6 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 2,700,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,900,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 170× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.6 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 5.7 on 2024-12-09 — about 2,000,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 5 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 6.4 Near Fernley, Nevada · 23 km WSW of this epicentre
- 6.2 The 1954 Rainbow Mountain, Nevada Earthquake · 49 km ESE of this epicentre
- 6.1 22 km SSE of Stagecoach, Nevada · 50 km SSW of this epicentre
- 5.5 7 km N of Wadsworth, Nevada · 22 km NW of this epicentre
- 5.0 35 km ENE of Nixon, Nevada · 47 km N 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 39.5877, -119.0951. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Storey County, NV | 40 km (25 mi) | WSW | earthquakes near Storey County |
| Lyon County, NV | 63 km (39 mi) | S | earthquakes near Lyon County |
| Churchill County, NV | 71 km (44 mi) | E | earthquakes near Churchill County |
| Carson City, NV | 74 km (46 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Carson City |
| Douglas County, NV | 88 km (55 mi) | SSW | earthquakes near Douglas County |
| Pershing County, NV | 111 km (69 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Pershing 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.