QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.3ml

18 km S of Lima, Montana

Yes. A magnitude 3.3 earthquake was recorded 18 km S of Lima, Montana, at 6:35 pm MDT on 30 June 2026 (00:35 UTC), 7.9 km deep.

· 7.9 km deep · released about 1.3 tons of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Clark County 28 kmBeaverhead County 77 kmJefferson County 78 kmFremont County 93 kmButte County 99 kmMadison County 107 kmMadison County 110 kmLemhi County 114 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Montana today
every earthquake in Montana in the last 24 hours
Magnitude
M 3.3 (ml)
Depth
7.9 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Clark County, 28 km SE
Nearest mapped fault
Red Rock fault, 16 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 57 days ago

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 51 km (32 mi) from the epicentre. 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 1.3 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 130,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 5,600× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 4,000× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.3 about 1.3 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2.8× more

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 4.6 on 2019-04-09 — about 89 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 2 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.1 19 km NW of Lima, Montana · 35 km NNW of this epicentre
  2. 5.1 22 km NW of Lima, Montana · 38 km NNW 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 44.4700, -112.6032. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Clark County, ID 28 km (17 mi) SE earthquakes near Clark County
Beaverhead County, MT 77 km (48 mi) NNW earthquakes near Beaverhead County
Jefferson County, ID 78 km (49 mi) SSE earthquakes near Jefferson County
Fremont County, ID 93 km (58 mi) ESE earthquakes near Fremont County
Butte County, ID 99 km (61 mi) SSW earthquakes near Butte County
Madison County, ID 107 km (66 mi) SE earthquakes near Madison County

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

5 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 1.3 35 km NW of Lima, Montana
  2. 1.7 33 km NW of Lima, Montana
  3. 1.3 1 km WSW of Lima, Montana
  4. 1.0 3 km NW of Lima, Montana
  5. 0.1 28 km NNE of Spencer, Idaho

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

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.