Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change
M 2.6ml
Earthquake near South Hill, WA
USGS: 2 km SW of Ashford, Washington
59 km (37 mi) SE of Lakewood, WA · 100 km (62 mi) SSE of Seattle, WA
- When
- 7:02 pm PDT on 5 October 2026 ()
- Where
- 48 km (30 mi) SSE of South Hill, WA · earthquakes near South Hill
- Magnitude
- M 2.6 (ml)
- Depth
- 7.4 km below the surface
- Felt
- 6 reports · strongest reported intensity III
- Nearest
- Lewis County, 30 km SW
- Status
- Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1 hour ago
A magnitude 2.6 earthquake was recorded 48 km (30 mi) SSE of South Hill, WA, at 7:02 pm PDT on 5 October 2026 (02:02 UTC). 6 people have reported feeling it to USGS. This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.
Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Eatonville, Morton.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 220 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.6 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 68,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 48,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 4.3× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 2.6 about 220 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 one earthquake of M5 or more within 50 km:
- 5.2 23 km S of Morton, Washington · 46 km SSW 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 46.7402, -122.0537. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lewis County, WA | 30 km (19 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Lewis County |
| Pierce County, WA | 35 km (22 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near Pierce County |
| Thurston County, WA | 63 km (39 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near Thurston County |
| Cowlitz County, WA | 77 km (48 mi) | SW | earthquakes near Cowlitz County |
| Skamania County, WA | 80 km (50 mi) | S | earthquakes near Skamania County |
| King County, WA | 85 km (53 mi) | N | earthquakes near King County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
No further earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
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.
Revisions
USGS refines a solution as more stations report. Every change we have seen is listed here.
| What changed | From | To | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| reported intensity | 2.1 | 2.7 | |
| felt reports | 5 | 6 | |
| reported intensity | 2 | 2.1 | |
| felt reports | 3 | 5 | |
| felt reports | 2 | 3 | |
| reported intensity | 0 | 2 | |
| felt reports | 1 | 2 | |
| reported intensity | not reported | 0 | |
| felt reports | not reported | 1 |
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.