Well, this was much larger than usual. One of the largest quakes of 2023 has hit the New Madrid Fault in Missouri late Friday night and has reportedly been felt by hundreds.
There was no damage reported, but thanks to the New Madrid Fault, Missouri was just hit by one of its biggest quakes so far in 2023 and it was reportedly felt by dozens in the area.
Earthquakes happen often along the New Madrid Fault in Missouri. Most of the time it's one or two every few days, but in the past month there have been mini-swarms totaling more than 30 in just the past 30 days. Oddly many of these have been felt, too.
Well, this was certainly a new place for an earthquake in Illinois where earthquakes don't normally happen and definitely aren't normally felt. It happened late Saturday night according to the USGS.
If you follow earthquakes along the New Madrid Fault Zone, you know it's not unusual to see a quake every few days or so. It is a bit unusual to see more than a dozen quakes over the span of just a few days in Missouri though. That's what's happened this week in the southern part of the Show Me State.
There's been a sudden uptick of earthquakes along the New Madrid Fault in Missouri with at least 9 new quakes being recorded in just the past few days.
Now that we're almost halfway through 2023, let's do some quick earthquake math. There have been more than 175 measurable quakes along the New Madrid Fault in the seismically-active part of Missouri.
There was an uptick in earthquakes in Missouri along the New Madrid Fault in May of 2023, but nothing truly unusual except for one that happened in an unusual place according to the USGS.
It's natural when you think of earthquakes in Missouri to automatically think of New Madrid. But, did you know that New Madrid isn't the Missouri city most likely to get rocked by a major quake? It is nearby though.