Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change
M 1.5ml
Earthquake near Bishop, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Bishop in the 24 hours to 2:56 pm PDT (21:56 UTC). The last one was M 2.0, 9 km (5 mi) NW, at 9:02 pm PDT on 30 September 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Bishop
This page: a magnitude 1.5 earthquake was recorded 34 km (21 mi) east-northeast of Bishop, CA, at 5:07 am PDT on 20 October 2026 (12:07 UTC), 4.2 km deep. The magnitude and location are an automatic first estimate and may change.
USGS: 26 km S of Dyer, Nevada
- When
- 5:07 am PDT on 20 October 2026 ()
- Where
- 34 km (21 mi) east-northeast of Bishop, CA · earthquakes near Bishop
- Magnitude
- M 1.5 (ml)
- Depth
- 4.2 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Esmeralda County, 52 km NE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Fish Lake Valley fault, 11 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 34 hours ago
Earthquake alerts for Bishop, CA
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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 9 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In Bishop, 34 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.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 5.9 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 2,500,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,800,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 160× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.9 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 4.8 on 2016-02-16 — about 72,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 16 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.4 The 1986 Chalfant Valley, California Earthquake · 39 km WNW of this epicentre
- 6.1 46km E of Big Pine, California · 37 km SE of this epicentre
- 6.0 Near Bishop, California · 37 km WSW of this epicentre
- 5.9 18 km NNE of Mesa, California · 40 km WNW of this epicentre
- 5.8 10 km NNE of Dixon Lane-Meadow Creek, California · 31 km W 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 37.4295, -118.0243. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Esmeralda County, NV | 52 km (32 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Esmeralda County |
| Mono County, CA | 92 km (57 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Mono County |
| Inyo County, CA | 111 km (69 mi) | SSE | earthquakes near Inyo County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
1 earthquake has 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.