QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.2ml

Earthquake near Gold Bar, WA

No earthquake was likely felt in Gold Bar in the 24 hours to 9:07 pm PST (05:07 UTC). The last one was M 1.7, 3 km (2 mi) E, at 3:34 pm PDT on 10 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Gold Bar

This page: a magnitude 1.2 earthquake was recorded 5 km (3 mi) east of Gold Bar, WA, at 10:11 am PDT on 30 October 2026 (17:11 UTC), 8.1 km deep.

USGS: 2 km ENE of May Creek, Washington

60 km (37 mi) ENE of Seattle, WA · 42 km (26 mi) ENE of Redmond, WA

10:11 am PDT, Oct 30, 2026 · · 8.1 km deep · released about 1.7 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Snohomish County 24 kmKing County 44 kmSkagit County 72 kmChelan County 75 kmKitsap County 80 kmIsland County 84 kmPierce County 98 kmKittitas County 109 kmWhatcom County 110 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
10:11 am PDT on 30 October 2026 ()
Where
5 km (3 mi) east of Gold Bar, WA · earthquakes near Gold Bar
Magnitude
M 1.2 (ml)
Depth
8.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Snohomish County, 24 km NNW
Nearest mapped fault
Cherry Creek fault, 23 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 12 days ago

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

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. 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: Sultan, Woods Creek, Monroe, Monroe North, Lake Marcel-Stillwater, Duvall.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.7 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 9,100,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 6,500,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 580× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.2 about 1.7 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 130,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 3 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km:

  1. 5.4 8 km NNE of Lake Marcel-Stillwater, Washington · 21 km WSW of this epicentre
  2. 5.2 9 km NE of Lake Marcel-Stillwater, Washington · 19 km SW of this epicentre
  3. 5.0 4 km ENE of Machias, Washington · 32 km WNW 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 47.8608, -121.6295. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Snohomish County, WA 24 km (15 mi) NNW earthquakes near Snohomish County
King County, WA 44 km (27 mi) SSW earthquakes near King County
Skagit County, WA 72 km (45 mi) N earthquakes near Skagit County
Chelan County, WA 75 km (47 mi) E earthquakes near Chelan County
Kitsap County, WA 80 km (50 mi) WSW earthquakes near Kitsap County
Island County, WA 84 km (52 mi) WNW earthquakes near Island County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.0 18 km ENE of Tanner, Washington
  2. 1.5 12 km NNE of Snoqualmie, Washington
  3. 0.6 7 km ESE of Carnation, Washington
  4. 1.1 10 km E of Carnation, Washington
  5. 1.0 0 km ESE of Snoqualmie, Washington
  6. 1.0 10 km NE of Snoqualmie, Washington
  7. 1.6 11 km NE of Snoqualmie, Washington
  8. 2.6 2 km ENE of Granite Falls, 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

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