QuakeScout
Magnitude5.8

Reviewed by USGSWashington81y ago

M5.8 earthquake in Puget Sound area, Washington

Friday, February 15, 1946, 03:17:47 UTC · 47.280°N, 122.900°W

A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck in Puget Sound area, Washington on Friday, February 15, 1946, 03:17:47 UTC, at a depth of 25.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.1 on November 13, 1939.

Magnitude
5.8
Moderate · ms
Depth
25 km
Shallow
Felt reports
0
Did You Feel It?
Est. shaking
—
No ShakeMap
PAGER alert
None
Not issued
Tsunami
No flag
USGS feed

Outlined circle: this earthquake

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

8 kilotons of TNT

That is about 1/2 of the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 16 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

235 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Juan de Fuca and North American plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.

Depth: shallow

25 km

Shallow earthquakes (under 70 km) produce the strongest surface shaking for their size, so they are the ones most likely to cause damage near the epicenter.

Did You Feel It?

Where it was felt

No “Did You Feel It?” reports have been published for this event yet. If you felt it, you can add your report on the USGS website.

I felt it — report to USGS ↗

USGS PAGER estimate

Who was exposed to shaking

USGS publishes PAGER impact estimates for significant earthquakes, usually within an hour. No PAGER estimate is available for this event.

After the main event

Aftershocks within 75 km

USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 75 km in the 30 days after this event.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 8 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

  1. 6.1Puget Sound region, WashingtonNovember 13, 1939 · 18 km NE of this epicenter
  2. 6.0119 km SSW of Ucluelet, CanadaSeptember 17, 1926 · 264 km W of this epicenter

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 2 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700. The most severe:

  1. 1928M5.8

    British Columbia

    9 Feb 1928 · 247 km away

    tsunami

  2. 1891

    Puget Sound

    29 Nov 1891 · 92 km away · intensity VII

    tsunami

NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.

Nearby trackers

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