Earthquake near Granite Falls, WA

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 14 km (9 mi) from the epicentre. In Granite Falls, 4 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.

Likely felt in: Lake Stevens 13 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

USGS catalogues this as explosion, not an earthquake.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 18 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.9 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 840,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 600,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 53× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.9 about 18 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

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 4 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

1. 5.4 8 km NNE of Lake Marcel-Stillwater, Washington · 36 km S of this epicentre May 3, 1996
2. 5.2 9 km NE of Lake Marcel-Stillwater, Washington · 38 km S of this epicentre Jul 18, 1932
3. 5.0 4 km ENE of Machias, Washington · 11 km SSW of this epicentre May 15, 1954
4. 5.0 6 km W of Conway, Washington · 47 km NW of this epicentre Jan 26, 1957

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 48.0833, -121.9177. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.7 4 km ENE of May Creek, Washington 22:11 UTC
2. 2.2 5 km NE of Oso, Washington 19:56 UTC
3. 1.8 3 km E of Granite Falls, Washington 22:36 UTC
4. 2.0 6 km WSW of Lake Cavanaugh, Washington 21:24 UTC
5. 1.5 1 km N of Carnation, Washington 19:19 UTC
6. 2.2 10 km E of Verlot, Washington 02:22 UTC
7. 1.8 3 km E of Granite Falls, Washington 23:06 UTC
8. 2.2 11 km E of Verlot, Washington 08:05 UTC
9. 1.5 2 km ENE of Union Hill-Novelty Hill, Washington 10:16 UTC
10. 1.7 3 km E of Granite Falls, Washington 23:29 UTC
11. 1.6 5 km NE of Oso, Washington 08:56 UTC
12. 2.1 6 km NE of Oso, Washington 18:50 UTC
13. 2.0 3 km E of Granite Falls, Washington 23:35 UTC
14. 1.6 2 km SE of Maltby, Washington 11:30 UTC
15. 1.7 2 km ESE of Conway, Washington 16:31 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 02:46 UTC. 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.