Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.5ml
62 km ESE of West Yellowstone, Montana
Yes. A magnitude 1.5 earthquake was recorded 62 km ESE of West Yellowstone, Montana, at 5:38 pm MDT on 31 August 2026 (23:38 UTC), 4.9 km deep.
- When
- Montana today
- every earthquake in Montana in the last 24 hours
- Magnitude
- M 1.5 (ml)
- Depth
- 4.9 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Teton County, 42 km S
- Nearest mapped fault
- Eagle Bay fault, under 1 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 71 days ago
Earthquake alerts for West Yellowstone, MT
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near West Yellowstone, MT. 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 9 km (6 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 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 4.2 on 2022-05-11 — about 12,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 8 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.0 21 km E of West Yellowstone, Montana · 43 km NW of this epicentre
- 5.9 26 km SSE of Mammoth, Wyoming · 39 km NNW of this epicentre
- 5.5 25 km SSW of Mammoth, Wyoming · 49 km NW of this epicentre
- 5.3 24 km ENE of West Yellowstone, Montana · 48 km NW of this epicentre
- 5.3 20 km S of Mammoth, Wyoming · 47 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 44.4265, -110.3968. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teton County, WY | 42 km (26 mi) | S | earthquakes near Teton County |
| Park County, WY | 64 km (40 mi) | E | earthquakes near Park County |
| Fremont County, ID | 90 km (56 mi) | WSW | earthquakes near Fremont County |
| Teton County, ID | 99 km (61 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Teton County |
| Park County, MT | 116 km (72 mi) | N | earthquakes near Park County |
| Madison County, ID | 123 km (76 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Madison County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
53 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.8 36 km S of Silver Gate, Montana
- 0.4 49 km SSE of Mammoth, Wyoming
- 1.5 61 km ESE of West Yellowstone, Montana
- 0.6 48 km SSE of Mammoth, Wyoming
- 0.9 34 km S of Silver Gate, Montana
- 1.2 24 km SSE of Mammoth, Wyoming
- 0.7 24 km SSW of Mammoth, Wyoming
- 1.5 35 km S of Silver Gate, Montana
- 1.4 68 km ESE of West Yellowstone, Montana
- 0.7 51 km SE of Mammoth, Wyoming
- 1.1 35 km ESE of West Yellowstone, Montana
- 0.8 33 km ESE of West Yellowstone, Montana
- 1.0 30 km ESE of West Yellowstone, Montana
- 0.8 29 km ESE of West Yellowstone, Montana
- 0.6 29 km ESE of West Yellowstone, Montana
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.