Topline
A tsunami warning issued for a large stretch of northern California and Oregon—including San Francisco Bay—was canceled a little more than an hour after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off the Golden State’s coast Thursday morning.
San Francisco’s coastline is under a Tsunami warning. (Photo by Ray Chavez/Digital First Media/The … [+]
Key Facts
The earthquake occurred at 10:44 a.m. PST, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which reported a 7.0 magnitude earthquake about 60 miles west-southwest of Ferndale, California.
Around 10:59 a.m. PST, the National Weather Service’s Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning stretching from Davenport, California (10 miles northwest of Santa Cruz) to Douglas/Lane county line in Oregon (10 miles southwest of Florence), urging people to evacuate from the coastline and onto higher ground or inland.
The warning was canceled at 11:54 a.m. PST, as the National Weather Service reported “no tsunami danger presently exists” for the coastal areas of California and Oregon.
Tsunami activity was forecasted to begin at 12:10 p.m. in San Francisco, though the forecasted time for tsunami activity in Fort Bragg (11:10 a.m.) appears to not have produced any flooding or hazardous conditions, according to multiple livestreams of the small city’s coastal areas.
There were no immediate reports of major damage as a result of the earthquake.
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Surprising Fact
The 1994 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles County was slightly weaker than Thursday’s quake, registering a 6.8 magnitude. However, the historic quake’s epicenter was located in the San Fernando Valley, a large, highly populated area immediately north of the Hollywood Hills. The earthquake killed at least 57 people, injured several thousand and caused billions of dollars in property damage.
Key Background
The magnitude 7.0 earthquake recorded 45 miles off northern California’s coast Thursday could be considered a major one, as the U.S. Geological Survey considers a 6.3 magnitude or greater quake a “strong earthquake.” The location of Thursday’s quake created moderate to mild shaking intensity on land in parts of northern California, and though the earthquake appeared to spare the region in terms of major property damage, the U.S. Geological Survey ranked it No. 1 on its list of significant earthquakes in 2024. The agency measures significance by magnitude, the number of people who reported feeling the quake and the alert level provided by the Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response system, which issued a yellow alert for economic losses, suggesting an initial estimate that the earthquake would lead to $1 million or more in damages.
Further Reading
Magnitude 7.0 earthquake strikes Northern California, USGS reports; tsunami warning canceled (ABC 7)
