QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8ml

8 km SSW of Birch Bay, Washington

· 17 km deep · released about 16 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Juan County 44 kmWhatcom County 71 kmIsland County 77 kmSkagit County 83 kmClallam County 114 kmSnohomish County 117 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 1.8 (ml)
Depth
17 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Juan County, 44 km SSW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 369 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

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.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 930,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 660,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 59× the energy of this one
  4. 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.

Where

Epicentre 48.8487, -122.8075. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
San Juan County, WA 44 km (27 mi) NNE of here earthquakes near San Juan County
Whatcom County, WA 71 km (44 mi) W of here earthquakes near Whatcom County
Island County, WA 77 km (48 mi) N of here earthquakes near Island County
Skagit County, WA 83 km (51 mi) WNW of here earthquakes near Skagit County
Clallam County, WA 114 km (71 mi) NE of here earthquakes near Clallam County
Snohomish County, WA 117 km (73 mi) NW of here earthquakes near Snohomish County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.6 5 km N of Anacortes, Washington
  2. 1.6 8 km WNW of Orcas, Washington
  3. 1.7 8 km WNW of Orcas, Washington
  4. 1.8 8 km WNW of Orcas, Washington
  5. 2.2 9 km SW of White Rock, Canada
  6. 2.1 5 km N of Anacortes, Washington
  7. 2.6 7 km ENE of Ferndale, Washington
  8. 2.2 5 km NW of Orcas, Washington
  9. 2.4 4 km SSW of Anacortes, Washington
  10. 2.0 5 km N of Anacortes, Washington
  11. 2.7 5 km N of Anacortes, Washington
  12. 1.8 4 km SSW of Anacortes, Washington
  13. 1.5 7 km WNW of Friday Harbor, Washington
  14. 1.6 3 km SE of Alger, Washington
  15. 2.7 12 km WSW of Anacortes, 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.5 on 2025-03-03 — it released about 10,000 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.