Magnitude-5.5 earthquake in Nevada rumbles through Sacramento area followed by minor temblors
Posted on 12/10/2024
A magnitude-5.5 earthquake Monday in Nevada rumbled through the Lake Tahoe region and parts of the Sacramento region, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The temblor struck at 3:08 p.m. 15 miles northeast of Yerington, a small town in Lyon County, according to the USGS. The incident was followed by at least 10 earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from 2.5 to 3.3, according to the federal agency.
The earthquake, which struck at a depth of roughly 4 miles below the surface, was initially recorded at a magnitude of 5.8 before it was downgraded by seismologists. The epicenter’s location is not on a known fault, according to mapping from the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, but is near multiple unnamed faults that dot the rugged, empty terrain southeast of Reno.
The quake’s epicenter is about 43 miles east from South Lake Tahoe and 127 miles east of Sacramento.
Sacramento residents reported feeling waves from the earthquake from downtown Sacramento to the Pocket neighborhood.
Chris Micheli, a Sacramento lobbyist, said he swayed while sitting at his desk on the eighth floor of the Senator Hotel on L Street, just across from the California state Capitol.
“I haven’t felt one like that” in about 15 years, Micheli said.
Monday’s earthquakes happened on the heels of a 7.0 magnitude earthquake off the Northern California coast last week that uprooted homes in Humboldt County and cut power for thousands.
That temblor briefly prompted a tsunami warning from Oregon to San Francisco. Bay Area residents were also given evacuation warnings before authorities gave the all-clear.
The last moderate earthquake in the area occurred on Oct. 1, 2011, when a magnitude-4.8 quake struck 23 miles south-southeast of Monday’s epicenter. In the past 100 years, according to USGS records, only 15 earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 4.5 have occurred within a 30-mile radius of Monday’s temblor.
Most of the faults in the area have had little to no movement since the Ice Age, data from the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology show.
This story was originally published December 9, 2024, 3:39 PM.
The temblor struck at 3:08 p.m. 15 miles northeast of Yerington, a small town in Lyon County, according to the USGS. The incident was followed by at least 10 earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from 2.5 to 3.3, according to the federal agency.
The earthquake, which struck at a depth of roughly 4 miles below the surface, was initially recorded at a magnitude of 5.8 before it was downgraded by seismologists. The epicenter’s location is not on a known fault, according to mapping from the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, but is near multiple unnamed faults that dot the rugged, empty terrain southeast of Reno.
The quake’s epicenter is about 43 miles east from South Lake Tahoe and 127 miles east of Sacramento.
Sacramento residents reported feeling waves from the earthquake from downtown Sacramento to the Pocket neighborhood.
Chris Micheli, a Sacramento lobbyist, said he swayed while sitting at his desk on the eighth floor of the Senator Hotel on L Street, just across from the California state Capitol.
“I haven’t felt one like that” in about 15 years, Micheli said.
Monday’s earthquakes happened on the heels of a 7.0 magnitude earthquake off the Northern California coast last week that uprooted homes in Humboldt County and cut power for thousands.
That temblor briefly prompted a tsunami warning from Oregon to San Francisco. Bay Area residents were also given evacuation warnings before authorities gave the all-clear.
The last moderate earthquake in the area occurred on Oct. 1, 2011, when a magnitude-4.8 quake struck 23 miles south-southeast of Monday’s epicenter. In the past 100 years, according to USGS records, only 15 earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 4.5 have occurred within a 30-mile radius of Monday’s temblor.
Most of the faults in the area have had little to no movement since the Ice Age, data from the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology show.
This story was originally published December 9, 2024, 3:39 PM.
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