10 Measurable Earthquakes in the New Madrid Area Over Past Week
It's been an interesting week along the New Madrid Fault part of America. Nearly a dozen measurable quakes were reported by the USGS along with a couple in strange locations.
It's important to note that there's nothing to be really concerned about at this point. We have quakes every single day in the Missouri/Illinois/Arkansas/Tennessee region where the New Madrid Fault exists. I check the USGS site daily and I normally see maybe 3 or 4 measurable quakes a week there. Over the past 7 days, there are 10 and that doesn't include a rather noticeable one in a weird part of Illinois.
There were also 2 minor quakes in a part of Illinois a little further north than we're used to seeing. Both only registered a 2.2 on the Richter Scale.
Back in June, we saw a minor swarm of 7 New Madrid quakes over a week. That's what made this new uptick interesting. Important to note that interesting does NOT mean alarming.
We noted months ago 5 insane things that happened during this historic New Madrid quakes of 1811 and 1812. As we mentioned previously, FEMA estimates there's only a 7 to 10% chance we'll see a quake larger than a 7.0 in the next 50 years. Nothing to lose sleep over, but always good to be quake aware of what is shaking along the New Madrid Fault.
You can keep track of what's shaking where through the USGS earthquake map anytime.