Earthquake near Friday Harbor, 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 13 km (8 mi) from the epicentre. In Friday Harbor, 9 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: Friday Harbor 9 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 60 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 250,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 180,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 16× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.2 about 60 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. 6.0 San Juan Islands, Washington · 23 km ENE of this epicentre Jan 11, 1909
2. 5.5 21 km SSE of Point Roberts, Washington · 23 km NNE of this epicentre Jan 24, 1920
3. 5.1 10 km ESE of Salt Spring Island, Canada · 30 km NW of this epicentre May 16, 1976

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 48.6000, -123.0800. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.3 12 km WNW of Edison, Washington 23:32 UTC
2. 1.7 10 km W of Friday Harbor, Washington 08:56 UTC
3. 1.8 9 km NW of Friday Harbor, Washington 09:37 UTC
4. 1.9 4 km SSE of Colwood, Canada 03:34 UTC
5. 1.6 10 km WNW of Orcas, Washington 22:30 UTC
6. 2.4 11 km W of Ault Field, Washington 03:26 UTC
7. 2.5 Washington-British Columbia border region 10:16 UTC
8. 2.0 9 km S of Friday Harbor, Washington 11:11 UTC
9. 1.5 12 km ENE of North Saanich, Canada 23:09 UTC
10. 3.0 10 km NW of Friday Harbor, Washington 08:15 UTC
11. 2.6 3 km NNE of Coupeville, Washington 21:10 UTC
12. 1.6 6 km E of Oak Bay, Canada 01:01 UTC
13. 1.6 10 km ESE of Point Roberts, Washington 23:25 UTC
14. 2.3 11 km NNE of Six Mile, Canada 15:07 UTC
15. 2.1 13 km N of Orcas, Washington 21:55 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 14:00 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.