Earthquake Commentary for May, 2001

Map of recent earthquake activity

Did you feel it?

Send comments and suggestions to:kate@gps.caltech.edu


17:36 PDT, Thursday, May 31

We have recorded and located 232 earthquakes in the last week. Click here to see a summary and map .


17:26 PDT, Thursday, May 24

We have recorded and located 373 earthquakes in the last week. Click here to see a summary and map .


12:15 PDT, Wednesday, May 23

There has just been an earthquake felt in the Palm Springs area. It occurred at 12:10 pm and was located 7 miles south-southeast of Mt. San Gorgonio, or 19 miles northwest of Palm Springs. The magnitude was M3.8.


08:49 PDT, Wednesday, May 23

At 12:03 am this morning, there was a M3.0 Hector Mines aftershock, located 41 miles north of Joshua Tree. It was not felt.

A rather small quakes was felt, however, Tuesday evening at Pine Mountain Club in Kern County, 12 miles west of Wheeler Ridge. The time was 7:18 pm and the magnitude was M2.0.


08:40 PDT, Monday, May 21

A very small quake was felt Saturday afternoon, at 5:57 pm. The magnitude was M2.3, and the epicenter was in Long Beach. This quake was felt in Long Beach itself, as well as Bellflower and Lakewood.

Another small quake, M2.9, occurred at 7:54 am on Sunday, 12 miles west of Wheeler Ridge. It has not been reported felt.


15:42 PDT, Friday, May 18

We have recorded and located 333 earthquakes in the last week. Click here to see a summary and map .


16:47 PDT, Thursday, May 17

The swarm continues, with a M3.0 at 3:29 pm, a M2.9 at 3:31 pm, and a M4.1 at 3:56 pm, a M2.8 at 4:03 pm, a M3.2 at 4:23 pm, and a M2.8 at 4:33 pm. The M4.1 quake was felt in China Lake, Ridgecreest, and Caliente. If activity continues at this level overnight, I will stop listing all the M3's individually. You may see a map and list with the "recent earthquake activity" link above.

Even though Coso Junction is the nearest town on our reference list for the automatic locations, these quakes are occurring on the west side of Owens Valley, in the Sierras. The location is very close to that of the March 15, 1946 Walker Pass earthquake, which had a magnitude of ML6.3.


15:18 PDT, Thursday, May 17

The southern Sierra swarm continues, with a M4.0 at 2:53 pm and a M2.9 at 2:56 pm. The M4.0 was also felt in Ridgecrest. Like the previous event, it had a strike-slip focal mechanism.


14:30 PDT, Thursday, May 17

There were several more quakes in the southern Sierra, 18 miles south-southwest of Coso Junction. These included a M3.6 (the largest so far) at 1:47 pm and a M3.0 at 2:14 pm. The M3.6 had a strike-slip focal mechanism.


13:00 PDT, Thursday, May 17

At 12:49 pm today, there was a M3.0 quake located in the southern Sierras, 18 miles south-southwest of Coso Junction.


10:55 PDT, Monday, May 14

At 10:13 am today, the Inland Empire experienced a M3.9 earthquake. The epicenter was located in Lytle Creek, 4 miles west of Devore, or 13 miles north of Fontana. This quake was felt widely in the Inland Empire and northern Orange County, with even one report from Pasadena and one from Escondido. The focal mechanism is strike-slip, consistent with the nearby San Jacinto fault.


17:17 PDT, Thursday, May 10

We have recorded and located 219 earthquakes in the last week. Click here to see a summary and map .


10:58 PDT, Monday, May 07

It appears by looking at the graph of the number of hits we took on our server that a pair of small, but local, earthquakes were felt on Sunday the 6th. The most recent occurred at 4:23 pm Sunday. It was another San Fernando earthquake located 2 miles north-northwest of the city. Earlier in the day people to the east felt an earthquake located 6 miles south of Rancho Cucamonga at 9:40 am. Both of Sunday's quakes were measured M2.6.


10:25 PDT, Friday, May 04

We have recorded and located 184 earthquakes in the last week. Click here to see a summary and map .


16:56 PDT, Thursday, May 03

We received a felt report pretty late in the day for an event felt pretty early in the morning, a M2.7 at 12:32 am located 3 miles east-southeast of San Fernando. The call came from a light sleeper in Sherman Oaks.


This page is www.trinet.org/eqreports/comments/May2001.html.
Last updated 17:36 PDT May 31, 2001.