Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.8ml
Earthquake near Darrington, WA
No earthquake was likely felt in Darrington in the 24 hours to 9:56 pm PST (05:56 UTC). The last one was M 3.8, 74 km (46 mi) W, at 11:35 pm PDT on 1 July 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 2,030 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Darrington
This page: a magnitude 1.8 earthquake was recorded 5 km (3 mi) west-southwest of Darrington, WA, at 9:49 pm PST on 5 December 2019 (05:49 UTC), 9.1 km deep.
USGS: 5 km WSW of Darrington, Washington
85 km (53 mi) NE of Seattle, WA · 40 km (25 mi) ENE of Marysville, WA
- When
- 9:49 pm PST on 5 December 2019 ()
- Where
- 5 km (3 mi) west-southwest of Darrington, WA · earthquakes near Darrington
- Magnitude
- M 1.8 (ml)
- Depth
- 9.1 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Snohomish County, 21 km SSW
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 609 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Darrington, WA
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Darrington, WA. 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. In Darrington, 5 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: Darrington 5 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 13 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,200,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 840,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 75× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.8 about 13 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 4.6 on 2019-07-12 — about 18,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 2 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 5.6 Near Marblemount, Washington · 36 km NNE of this epicentre
- 5.0 4 km ENE of Machias, Washington · 36 km SW 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 48.2300, -121.6650. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snohomish County, WA | 21 km (13 mi) | SSW | earthquakes near Snohomish County |
| Skagit County, WA | 31 km (19 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near Skagit County |
| Whatcom County, WA | 69 km (43 mi) | N | earthquakes near Whatcom County |
| Island County, WA | 75 km (47 mi) | W | earthquakes near Island County |
| King County, WA | 83 km (52 mi) | S | earthquakes near King County |
| Chelan County, WA | 88 km (55 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Chelan 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.
- 1.9 5 km NW of North Sultan, Washington
- 1.6 4 km SSW of May Creek, Washington
- 2.0 3 km ENE of Granite Falls, Washington
- 1.6 5 km NNE of Woods Creek, Washington
- 1.9 8 km NNE of Hamilton, Washington
- 1.5 4 km N of Woods Creek, Washington
- 2.0 8 km NNE of Hamilton, Washington
- 2.8 9 km NNE of Hamilton, Washington
- 1.9 8 km NNE of Hamilton, Washington
- 2.3 4 km SW of Darrington, Washington
- 1.8 9 km NNE of Hamilton, Washington
- 1.7 3 km ENE of Granite Falls, Washington
- 1.9 3 km SSE of Sultan, Washington
- 1.7 4 km ENE of Granite Falls, Washington
- 1.9 5 km NNW of North Sultan, 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
- 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.