Scientists Confirm Strange Missouri Quake Near Truman Reservoir

By far this is the strangest earthquake I've seen in Missouri this year. The USGS has confirmed an earthquake just happened near Harry S. Truman Reservoir in west-central Missouri.

Missouri experiences tiny earthquakes in the bootheel region nearly every day, but it's not often you see one in this part of the state. The USGS has confirmed a magnitude 2.5 quake happened east/southeast of Brownington, Missouri. Here's the epicenter in relation to Kansas City.

As you can see on the map, Brownington is located just to the west of the epicenter for this odd Missouri quake while Harry S. Truman Reservoir is just to the north of this tremor. The approximate time of this quake was 10:27am Sunday morning, September 13, 2026.

Was this quake caused by the New Madrid Fault?

My understanding is this part of Missouri is not affected by the New Madrid Fault. This minor quake happened in the Illinois Basin – Ozark Dome region which features ancient, deep-seated crustal faults. Isolated quakes do happen in this part of Missouri, but not frequently. If the USGS shares any additional details of this Missouri quake, I'll update this. As it stands now, it's just another weird Missouri seismic moment.