Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.8ml
Earthquake near Sultan, WA
No earthquake was likely felt in Sultan in the 24 hours to 7:02 pm PST (03:02 UTC). The last one was M 4.2, 85 km (53 mi) SW, at 2:05 pm PDT on 29 September 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 9,329 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Sultan
This page: a magnitude 1.8 earthquake was recorded 6 km (4 mi) south-southwest of Sultan, WA, at 8:30 pm PST on 7 December 2022 (04:30 UTC), 11 km deep.
USGS: 8 km SSW of Sultan, Washington
43 km (26 mi) ENE of Seattle, WA · 24 km (15 mi) NE of Redmond, WA
- When
- 8:30 pm PST on 7 December 2022 ()
- Where
- 6 km (4 mi) south-southwest of Sultan, WA · earthquakes near Sultan
- Magnitude
- M 1.8 (ml)
- Depth
- 11 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Snohomish County, 28 km NNE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Southern Whidbey Island fault, 6 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1007 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Sultan, WA
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Sultan, 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 Sultan, 6 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.
Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Woods Creek, Monroe, Duvall, Monroe North, Gold Bar, Lake Marcel-Stillwater.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 16 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 5.8 930,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 660,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 59× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.8 about 16 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 14,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 3 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 5.4 8 km NNE of Lake Marcel-Stillwater, Washington · 6 km SSW of this epicentre
- 5.2 9 km NE of Lake Marcel-Stillwater, Washington · 7 km SSE of this epicentre
- 5.0 4 km ENE of Machias, Washington · 23 km NNW 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 47.8127, -121.8607. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snohomish County, WA | 28 km (17 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Snohomish County |
| King County, WA | 36 km (22 mi) | S | earthquakes near King County |
| Kitsap County, WA | 62 km (39 mi) | WSW | earthquakes near Kitsap County |
| Island County, WA | 72 km (44 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near Island County |
| Skagit County, WA | 76 km (47 mi) | N | earthquakes near Skagit County |
| Pierce County, WA | 87 km (54 mi) | SSW | earthquakes near Pierce County |
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.
- 1.9 10 km S of Sultan, Washington
- 2.5 9 km NNE of Snoqualmie, Washington
- 1.6 2 km SSE of Ames Lake, Washington
- 2.1 Puget Sound region, Washington
- 1.7 7 km NE of Fall City, Washington
- 1.6 2 km E of Granite Falls, Washington
- 1.7 11 km E of Tanner, Washington
- 2.8 8 km ENE of Fall City, Washington
- 2.1 9 km NNE of Snoqualmie, Washington
- 2.0 8 km ENE of Fall City, Washington
- 1.6 8 km ENE of Fall City, Washington
- 3.9 9 km NNE of Snoqualmie, Washington
- 1.6 7 km NE of Fall City, Washington
- 1.6 2 km E of Granite Falls, Washington
- 1.7 3 km NNW of Edmonds, 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.