156 km W of Ferndale, California

20 days ago

USGSAUTOMATIC

A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck 156 km W of Ferndale, California on 29 Sept 2026, 11:36 UTC. The hypocentre was 8 km below the surface — shallow by seismological convention. This is an automatic solution that an analyst has not yet reviewed, so the magnitude and depth above may still change. 1 other earthquake above our reporting threshold has been recorded within 250 km in the past 30 days.

Depth: 8 km
Latitude: 40.38°N
Time: 11:36 UTC
Magnitude: M4.5

EPICENTRE

View the official report↗

MAGNITUDE 4.5

Noticeable shaking of indoor objects. Damage is unlikely.

The scale is logarithmic: this released about 180 times the energy of a magnitude 3.0, roughly the energy of 85 tonnes of TNT.

8 KM DEEP

Shallow earthquakes release their energy close to the surface, so they are felt more strongly, and do more damage, than deeper earthquakes of the same magnitude.