Earthquake near Lake Stevens, 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 10 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In Lake Stevens, 43 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.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Gold Bar, Sultan, Woods Creek.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 5.4 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.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,800,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,000,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 180× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.4 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 3 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

1. 5.4 8 km NNE of Lake Marcel-Stillwater, Washington · 32 km WSW of this epicentre May 3, 1996
2. 5.2 9 km NE of Lake Marcel-Stillwater, Washington · 29 km SW of this epicentre Jul 18, 1932
3. 5.0 4 km ENE of Machias, Washington · 38 km WNW of this epicentre May 15, 1954

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 47.8997, -121.5058. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.5 20 km E of Darrington, Washington 02:15 UTC
2. 2.2 15 km NE of May Creek, Washington 02:41 UTC
3. 2.3 2 km ENE of Granite Falls, Washington 23:32 UTC
4. 1.9 2 km NE of Granite Falls, Washington 21:30 UTC
5. 2.1 6 km E of Carnation, Washington 08:04 UTC
6. 1.5 7 km ESE of Carnation, Washington 14:31 UTC
7. 2.0 2 km ENE of Granite Falls, Washington 21:30 UTC
8. 1.6 9 km NE of Duvall, Washington 20:08 UTC
9. 2.0 2 km NE of Granite Falls, Washington 22:10 UTC
10. 2.4 5 km SSE of May Creek, Washington 17:09 UTC
11. 2.1 10 km SW of Swede Heaven, Washington 13:05 UTC
12. 2.0 3 km E of Granite Falls, Washington 21:35 UTC
13. 1.8 12 km S of Darrington, Washington 14:04 UTC
14. 1.5 12 km S of Darrington, Washington 19:00 UTC
15. 1.8 3 km ENE of Granite Falls, Washington 21:00 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 03:26 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.