Odd New Madrid Fault Quake Across Missouri Border in Weird Place

Just when you think you've seen it all, the New Madrid Fault comes up with a brand new place to shake. A quake was just confirmed by the USGS right across the Missouri border practically in the middle of nowhere in a non-typical area.

While doing my daily check of the USGS earthquake page this morning, I noticed a not insignificant tremor near Missouri. I did a double-take when I saw the location thinking "what the?" as I don't recall seeing a New Madrid quake in this area before.

A 2.2 magnitude quake is no big deal and I'm not surprised that no one reported feeling it, but the location is unique for a New Madrid Fault quake. It was centered just to the west of the White River and not far from the Current River which traverses southern Missouri into Arkansas.

I haven't shared any of the other quakes that have happened this week, but this has been an active past few days along the New Madrid Seismic Zone as one in Tennessee right next to the Missouri Bootheel happened yesterday and there have been other rather tiny shakes in February already. I pay attention to non-typical New Madrid quakes to watch for patterns that might signal a foreshock of a more significant quake. As of right now, this is nothing more than a curiosity and let's hope it stays that way.