I think I felt an earthquake

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Kazoo65 · #1 Post by **Kazoo65** » Sat May 02, 2015 10:59 am

Around 12:15, I was standing in the garage with my SIL when we both felt something shake.My brother was in the basement and he thought the entire first floor of the house was going to crash on him.

We think it was an earthquake-but I haven't found anything online yet. My SIL checked Facebook and there were reports of shaking being felt as far away as Ypsilanti-which is on the east side of the state.

Weird.

jarnon · #2 Post by **jarnon** » Sat May 02, 2015 11:46 am

Yes, USGS says there was a magnitude 4.2 earthquake 15 km southeast of Kalamazoo at 12:23.

A few years ago, I felt an earthquake and checked the USGS website, but there was no mention of a small quake in the Philly area. I looked again, and saw there was a big quake in Virginia, 15 minutes earlier. It took that long for the shock wave to get to Pennsylvania.

mrkelley23 · #3 Post by **mrkelley23** » Sat May 02, 2015 3:28 pm

jarnon wrote:Yes, USGS says there was a magnitude 4.2 earthquake 15 km southeast of Kalamazoo at 12:23.

A few years ago, I felt an earthquake and checked the USGS website, but there was no mention of a small quake in the Philly area. I looked again, and saw there was a big quake in Virginia, 15 minutes earlier. It took that long for the shock wave to get to Pennsylvania.

The Rayleigh (surface) waves from an earthquake have a velocity that varies pretty widely based on soil densities, but they average between 1 and 5 miles per second. 900 seconds from an event to a distance of 3-400 miles would be unusual, but not unheard of. It's also possible that there was an aftershock in Virginia that caused the surface waves you felt.

It does take a while for earthquakes to get posted on the USGS site, but that's because unlike "news" sites, they will wait until they've seen the actual seismograms and analyzed them a bit before they post the earthquake.

jarnon · #4 Post by **jarnon** » Sat May 02, 2015 5:56 pm

mrkelley23 wrote:
jarnon wrote:Yes, USGS says there was a magnitude 4.2 earthquake 15 km southeast of Kalamazoo at 12:23.

A few years ago, I felt an earthquake and checked the USGS website, but there was no mention of a small quake in the Philly area. I looked again, and saw there was a big quake in Virginia, 15 minutes earlier. It took that long for the shock wave to get to Pennsylvania.
The Rayleigh (surface) waves from an earthquake have a velocity that varies pretty widely based on soil densities, but they average between 1 and 5 miles per second. 900 seconds from an event to a distance of 3-400 miles would be unusual, but not unheard of. It's also possible that there was an aftershock in Virginia that caused the surface waves you felt.

It does take a while for earthquakes to get posted on the USGS site, but that's because unlike "news" sites, they will wait until they've seen the actual seismograms and analyzed them a bit before they post the earthquake.

You're right, mrkelly. The earthquake was on August 23, 2011 at 1:51 pm. Local news reports didn't mention a delay, so I must have read the website wrong.

Kazoo65 · #5 Post by **Kazoo65** » Sat May 02, 2015 6:31 pm

According to our local TV station, the USGS says it was a 4.2 quake. No damage or injuries reported-which is good, but I'm sure it rattled a lot of nerves around here.

#6 Post by **Bob78164** » Sun May 03, 2015 1:01 am

In Michigan? No frackin' way.

--Bob

Kazoo65 · #7 Post by **Kazoo65** » Sun May 03, 2015 9:37 am

As you can imagine, the earthquake is the biggest story around here. It made the front page of today's Gazette, with pictures of the seismographic activity, and it's on the home pages of both local TV stations' websites.

It's the biggest quake to hit Michigan since 1947. We don't get them very often-thank goodness.

Iben Browning · #8 Post by **Iben Browning** » Sun May 03, 2015 10:29 am

I knew this would happen!

I'm also good at predicting tornadoes if you ever need my help there...

Kazoo65 · #9 Post by **Kazoo65** » Fri May 08, 2015 4:41 pm

Now I can officially add "earthquake" to my list of things to worry about.

Scientists have discovered a previously unknown (at least to them) fault located in the eastern part of Kalamazoo County. This made the local news earlier this week.

Next week marks the 35th anniversary of the tornado that swept through here. I don't ever want to see another one of those again.

silvercamaro · #10 Post by **silvercamaro** » Fri May 08, 2015 6:36 pm

Kazoo65 wrote:.
Next week marks the 35th anniversary of the tornado that swept through here. I don't ever want to see another one of those again.

I would prefer to never see another one, too.

WWTBAM Bored

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