Did you feel that? A magnitude 4.7 earthquake occurred at 9:35 pm near Independence Lake, eleven miles northwest of Truckee, CA. This event was widely felt in the Truckee, Tahoe, Sierra Valley, Sierra foothills, Reno/Carson City regions, as far north as Redding in Northern California and beyond Mono Lake to the south.
- Related: Can Earthquakes Cause Avalanches?
This event, recorded at a depth of about two miles, was preceded by a magnitude 3.1 foreshock at 9:26 pm and has already produced many aftershocks. Contribute to citizen science and submit your reports here.
The earthquake occurred just 22 seconds after the ShakeAlert notification system sent out an alert. The ShakeAlert system is designed to warn residents in a region where underground sensors detect a quake. The warning is sent online and received on cell phones before the shaking reaches the earth’s surface. The initial alert yesterday told residents to expect a 6.0 quake, warning “Earthquake. Drop. Cover. Hold on. Shaking expected.”
So the #USGS earthquake warning app works like a charm. I got an alert telling me there will be a quake up to 6.0 coming from the Reno/Tahoe area and to get under a doorway. About two minutes later there was a 4.7 quake centered near Truckee.
— Jared (@RoseLizenberg) May 7, 2021
Aftershocks will occur for days to weeks after an event of this magnitude. If you feel shaking: “Drop, Cover, and Hold On.”
The series of quakes come less than two weeks after a series of quakes up to 3.8 rattled the Tahoe Basin.
The Greater Tahoe area is earthquake country. For information about how to stay safe before, during, and after an earthquake, please visit https://www.earthquakecountry.org/sevensteps/.
The epicenter of the earthquake is just north of Independence Lake. Your location stated in the text is correct, but your map depiction shows it in the wrong location. If you look at the USGS site, you will see that the epicenter is not depicted on the southern outskirts of Truckee; it is located in Sierra County to the north northwest of the location depicted in your figure (eleven o’clock direction) a bit more than twice the diameter of your red circle as it appears on my 13-inch laptop screen.