Fourth earthquake in a week shakes up Western Washington

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) confirmed a magnitude 2.7 earthquake hit Western Washington Tuesday. This came after magnitude 3.0 and magnitude 2.6 earthquakes struck the region last weekend.

Washington felt its most recent tremor — the magnitude 2.7 earthquake — just before 10:50 a.m. Tuesday. The epicenter was located about mile from Enetai, the USGS reported. The agency also noted Bremerton (about three miles away), Bainbridge Island (3.6 miles) and Port Orchard (4.5 miles)  as “nearby places” to the tremor. It was also about 41 miles away from Olympia.

The earthquake had a depth of over 16.8 miles (about 27 kilometers), according to the USGS and the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network (PNSN).

As of 3:30 p.m., Tuesday, There were 23 responses to the USGS about feeling the tremor in some fashion.

PRELIM Earthquake: M3.0, 4.4 km ENE from Bremerton, WA at 2024/10/01 10:49 PDT https://t.co/VDqxR5KzyB
Did You Feel It?: https://t.co/gu0P4wc58d pic.twitter.com/7J6uM0gi5G

— PNSN (@PNSN1) October 1, 2024

Looking back at the weekend, Washington felt two earthquakes Sunday. The first tremor — the magnitude 3.0 earthquake — struck shortly after 7:45 a.m. The epicenter was also located close to Enetai, less than a mile away, the USGS stated. The agency also noted Bremerton (two miles away), Bainbridge Island (3.6 miles) and Port Orchard (4.5 miles)  as “nearby places” to the tremor. It was also about 40 miles away from Olympia.

In addition, the earthquake had a depth of over 16.8 miles (about 27 kilometers), according to the USGS and the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network (PNSN).

There were nearly 190 responses to the USGS about feeling the tremor in some fashion.

Washington felt the second tremor of the day Sunday — the magnitude 2.6 earthquake — just before 2:15 p.m. The epicenter was located near the same location as the other two recent area tremors, a little over a mile from Enetai, the USGS reported.

More information: Check out the MyNorthwest Earthquake Tracker

The earthquake also had a depth of over 19 miles (about 31 kilometers), according to the USGS and the PNSN.

As of 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, there were very few reports of people feeling Sunday’s later earthquake. In addition, neither tremor spurred any messages or posts on X, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s U.S. Tsunami Warning System.

Third Washington earthquake over 2.6 in 7 days

An earthquake also hit near the San Juan Islands early in the morning last Thursday. The USGS reported a 4.1 magnitude earthquake hit at 4:05 a.m. between San Juan Island and Brentwood Bay, about 12 miles northeast of Victoria, British Columbia.

Previous coverage: Earthquake may have shaken up Northern Washington residents

The USGS website showed the tremor was felt all the way down near Olympia. No damage was reported.

The PNSN website showed last Thursday’s earthquake was by far the largest in the area in recent weeks.

PRELIM Earthquake: M4.1, 18.8 km NNE from Victoria, BC at 2024/09/26 04:05 PDT https://t.co/ZHGe7UKxWE
Did You Feel It?: https://t.co/Xe5luM5xsu pic.twitter.com/KZcPLf1WeO

— PNSN (@PNSN1) September 26, 2024

Why you didn’t get an alert about any of the recent earthquakes

For those users who signed up for alerts in the past wondering why none popped up on their phones after the last four earthquakes, that’s because they weren’t big enough seismic events. The magnitude 4.0, 3.0, 2.7 and 2.6 earthquakes fell under the threshold needed to trigger automated alerts.

“For some of the apps, like MyShake, which you can download on your phone, that’s still set at a magnitude 4.5 threshold and this didn’t quite meet those thresholds,” Harold Tobin of the PNSN told KIRO Newsradio after a magnitude 4.3 earthquake hit the region in October 2023.

Alerts and suggestions: Public is urged to keep at least 1 emergency kit

MyShake delivers the USGS’ ShakeAlert across Washington, Oregon and California. It is operated out of the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory at the University of California Berkeley and run in partnership with the USGS and California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES).

Editors’ note: This piece originally was published on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. It has been updated and republished multiple times since then.

Contributing: Julia Dallas, MyNorthwest; Sam Campbell, KIRO Newsradio

Steve Coogan is the lead editor of MyNorthwest. You can read more of his stories here. Follow Steve on X, or email him here.