I thought I was coming up with a once in a lifetime story back in 2020 when I wrote a piece "Who Had Florida Earthquake On Their 2020 Card?" Last night, we had another earthquake, only this time much closer to my home.
When we got up this morning, Mrs. Graybeard opened up Firefox as she usually does to the USGS latest earthquakes website. We were stunned to see a report of magnitude 4.0 quake 163 km east of Cape Canaveral or just over 100 miles offshore. The time is reported as 0348UTC on the 8th, or 10:48PM EST - approximately five to ten minutes after I fell asleep last night. While the number of people responding to the USGS page's "Did you feel it?" query was in the low 30s before 8:00 AM this morning, this evening it shows 162 people reported feeling it, including people well inland.
The quake had no effect on SpaceX's launch of NASA's PACE satellite, which went off successfully at 1:33 AM EST, just under three hours later. I've seen no references to anything done due to the quake.
The 2020 quake I talked about was in the extreme NW corner of Florida, pretty much on the Florida/Alabama state line and far closer to Mobile, Alabama than well-known panhandle cities like Panama City Beach. That NW corner area had reported ten other earthquakes in the previous year. A report I saw that went away quickly from a news source this afternoon said that the closest quake to last night's was off St. Augustine, about 100 miles north of last night's and about 20 years ago.
Florida is a big state, and is often thought of as three different states: the very southernmost part from the keys through around Lake Okeechobee, the central part from the Lake up to around where the Suwanee river meets the gulf coast, then the panhandle area that stretches 370 miles east to west. The western part of the panhandle is on Central time; the dividing line is west of Tallahassee, close to the west side of the Apalachicola Forest.
As with the 2020 quake, nobody was hurt and no damage was reported, but it still brought the same idea to mind:
Revised version of the meme in the 2020 post.
Was there a tsunami advisory? 4.0 is fairly energetic. More than what ordnance could do. So doubtful someone set off a bomb.
ReplyDeleteFrom this winter I saw a weather chart showing 70F difference between the panhandle and Miami.
No, it was 6 miles down, and as far as I know there's no terrain that could move up or down and cause a tsunami.
DeleteThe 70 degree difference between the panhandle and Miami seems like a bit much, but I can't say I watch that regularly.
There are earthquakes all over the country each year; most are too small to get media attention.
ReplyDeleteJonathan
One wonders if Soviet subs are nearby. Perhaps a shot across the bow ?
ReplyDeleteCompletely missed it.
ReplyDeleteWoke up a bit for the launch, though. :)
A 4 is a fat lady falling over trying to pick up a sammich.
ReplyDeleteA nearby 5 will get your attention, but it's the same lady falling down the stairs.
Things don't really get interesting until the mid 6s.