HurricaneJosh Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 I had sort of an interesting seismic experience late last night. At 4:27 am I was awoken by a jiggle. I went on Facebook and a couple of others right in my 'hood were posting about it. As it turns out, it was only a 1.9. I never notice quakes this small, but I felt this one. Why? Because the epicenter (34.075°N 118.374°W) was literally right here-- near the intersection of Beverly Blvd and La Cienega Blvd, just a few blocks from me! Also, it was quite shallow-- only 4 km. I didn't think events under 2.0 could be felt. Well, they can if they're close and shallow enough, I guess! The event was so small that probably only residents within a 2- or 3-mi radius in West Hollywood and Beverly Hills even felt it. It's sort of cool to be so close-- the closest I've been to the epicenter of a documented quake, I think. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Quakes/ci15080756.html If it were a massive, newsmaking quake, it would have been called the West Hollywood Earthquake-- our very own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurricaneJosh Posted November 29, 2011 Author Share Posted November 29, 2011 I filled out the "Did you feel it?" survey-- which they use to create the shake maps-- and based on my answers, it assigned me MM III (Weak), which seems right. Here are the other responses, by ZIP code: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/dyfi/events/ci/15080756/us/index.html. The responses range from MM II to MM IV, so my response was right in the middle. My ZIP code (90048) is one of the highest-reporting, which makes sense, since the quake was right here. Here's the shake map so far. As can be seen, the effects were extremely localized-- it was only felt right at and very near the epicenter: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mappy Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 The word, jiggle, in your first post made me giggle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurricaneJosh Posted November 29, 2011 Author Share Posted November 29, 2011 The word, jiggle, in your first post made me giggle Well, that was exactly what it was. I can't think of a better word to describe, child. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aslkahuna Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 The 5.9 I felt in 1955 had it's epicenter about 2 blocks north of our house-it was a bit more than a jiggle. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isohume Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 The 5.9 I felt in 1955 had it's epicenter about 2 blocks north of our house-it was a bit more than a jiggle. Steve More like a juggle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BxEngine Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 The word, jiggle, in your first post made me giggle I tried copying and pasting his entire post over to dbm to troll it...lots of opportunities. Josh, kind of an odd question, but what are the smallest (besides this one) you've felt, and whats the furthest away you've felt one that wasnt a biggie? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Lizard Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 I remember Landers in 1992. I was in Bakersfield. It was a long, slow, gentle rocking. I had been drinking, but I thought to myself, that could have been an earthquake then went back to sleep. Lucy Jones had a 50% chance of a big San Andreas event in 72 hours, and sadly, was wrong, Interesting thing, I had driven up to Lake Isabella the day before, and the road down the river valley had some serious big boulders, and the quake did indeed briefly close the road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Lizard Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 Thread in the Central Forum for the upcoming Santa Ana event. LAX had 0.9 inches of rain 10 days ago, I though fire season was over and mudslide season had begun, but, sort of like the California version of Indian Summer, Fire Season is making a late comeback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mappy Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 I tried copying and pasting his entire post over to dbm to troll it...lots of opportunities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H2O Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 pffft, ours was bigger...and cooler for an area that doesn't get ones that big. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurricaneJosh Posted November 30, 2011 Author Share Posted November 30, 2011 The 5.9 I felt in 1955 had it's epicenter about 2 blocks north of our house-it was a bit more than a jiggle. Steve D*mn, yeah! Being right at the epicenter of one that size must have been pretty wild. I'll bet you had a bit of damage. I tried copying and pasting his entire post over to dbm to troll it...lots of opportunities. Josh, kind of an odd question, but what are the smallest (besides this one) you've felt, and whats the furthest away you've felt one that wasnt a biggie? Not an odd question. I don't have exact figures... Usually, we'll feel events over 3.0 if they're centered right in the metroplex. Usually, events out in the suburbs need to be 4ish for us to feel them in the city, and events out in the desert need to be 5ish. These are just my rough estimates. One thing about CA quakes is that they tend to be smaller and more violent than quakes in the Midwest and East-- meaning the coverage of the shaking is smaller, but where it shakes, it really shakes. I've never noticed anything below a 2.8ish before. We felt this one in my 'hood only because it was right here. I assumed it was a 3-something centered somewhere in the metroplex-- didn't realize it was right under us. In the great Northridge quake of 1994-- an extremely violent 6.7-- I was 13 mi from the center. That was by far the worst shaking I've felt. Even the aftershocks for that one-- multiple events over 5.0-- were rough. pffft, ours was bigger...and cooler for an area that doesn't get ones that big. That little piece o'crap? lolz I only found this quake interesting cuz the epicenter was right under me-- not cuz I think it was dramatic or significant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurricaneJosh Posted November 30, 2011 Author Share Posted November 30, 2011 By the way... Before you turn on the news or look at USGS, you can usually tell if the quake is small/nearby versus big/far away. This has to do with how the P and S waves travel. A small quake that's centered nearby will cause sharper, shorter duration shaking-- like, there will a sudden, pronounced jolt and then it's over. A big quake centered hundreds of miles away will cause a slower, mellower motion that lasts a long time-- like 10 or 20 seconds or even more-- and that might then lead to rougher motion. These events feel like rocking in a cradle, riding in a train, or sliding on ice (as my sister described one quake we had a few years ago). The WeHo quake was a classic small/nearby quake-- it was one quick rattle and then it was over. The other combo-- a big/nearby quake-- just feels like dynamite going off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurricaneJosh Posted November 30, 2011 Author Share Posted November 30, 2011 Updated shake map. Max shaking was MM IV. (I reported MM III in the survey.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aslkahuna Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 Thread in the Central Forum for the upcoming Santa Ana event. LAX had 0.9 inches of rain 10 days ago, I though fire season was over and mudslide season had begun, but, sort of like the California version of Indian Summer, Fire Season is making a late comeback. Some of the biggest Santa Ana fires in the LAX area have occurred in November. Fire season there isn't over until it's over-which in a dry year it's never over. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aslkahuna Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 In the 5.9 I felt in SJC, we had no serious damage in our neighborhood but the nearby shopping center took a solid MMVI hit with possibly some VII damage as I saw ceilings down in some stores but no wall damage. Downtown SJC had pockets of VI-VII with chimneys down, store windows shattered and the old City Hall and Jail were condemned because of structural damage. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amped Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 1.9 earthquake. The reaction to that is usually "Tell them kids to turn down that hip music" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
40/70 Benchmark Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Had a tiny one in my town this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.