QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.1ml

12 km SSW of South Cle Elum, Washington

· 4.0 km deep · released about 1,600 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Kittitas County 25 kmYakima County 72 kmKing County 78 kmPierce County 88 kmChelan County 92 kmGrant County 117 kmLewis County 119 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
Magnitude
M 3.1 (ml)
Depth
4.0 km below the surface
Felt
32 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Measured shaking
intensity III (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Kittitas County, 25 km ENE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1565 days ago

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage. 32 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1,600 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 210,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 9,400× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 6,700× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.1 about 1,600 lb of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 1.7× 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.

Where

Epicentre 47.0757, -120.9967. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Kittitas County, WA 25 km (15 mi) WSW of here earthquakes near Kittitas County
Yakima County, WA 72 km (44 mi) NNW of here earthquakes near Yakima County
King County, WA 78 km (49 mi) SE of here earthquakes near King County
Pierce County, WA 88 km (54 mi) E of here earthquakes near Pierce County
Chelan County, WA 92 km (57 mi) SSW of here earthquakes near Chelan County
Grant County, WA 117 km (72 mi) W of here earthquakes near Grant County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.4 17 km SW of Nile, Washington
  2. 1.6 Washington
  3. 1.7 1 km N of Tieton, Washington
  4. 1.8 7 km WSW of Thorp, Washington
  5. 1.7 15 km SW of Easton, Washington
  6. 2.1 12 km SW of Nile, Washington
  7. 1.6 10 km SW of Nile, Washington
  8. 2.0 14 km NE of Cliffdell, Washington
  9. 1.8 Washington
  10. 1.6 9 km SSW of Ellensburg, Washington
  11. 1.7 3 km W of Thorp, Washington
  12. 1.8 16 km SW of Ellensburg, Washington
  13. 1.5 4 km SSW of Thorp, Washington
  14. 1.6 13 km NNW of Thorp, Washington
  15. 1.7 15 km SW of Nile, Washington

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.