(OPINION) Have you noticed that the state of California has been getting absolutely monkey-hammered by earthquakes lately? According to the Southern California Earthquake Data Center, California and Nevada have been hit by a total of 945 earthquakes within the last seven days.
That is a whole lot of shaking! As you can see from this map, southern California has been getting pummeled more than anywhere else. Could it be possible that the trillions of gallons of rain that were dumped on the region earlier this month have something to do with all of this?
As I have discussed previously, scientists have determined that flooding can put an enormous amount of stress on fault lines. And without a doubt we have seen an unusual level of activity along California’s fault lines in recent days.
13 significant earthquakes, including one measuring magnitude 4.8, shook the state very early on Monday morning in a span of just 25 minutes… Parts of California were hit by more than a dozen earthquakes overnight, with 13 shaking the state during a span of just 25 minutes.
“Good morning Southern California! Did you feel the magnitude 4.8 earthquake about two miles north-west of El Centro at 12.36am? The #ShakeAlert system was activated,” the United States Geological Survey Shake Alert account posted on X.
The good news is that none of the earthquakes were large enough to do much damage. But the magnitude 4.8 quake was keenly felt by some local residents…
Although some near the area said they hadn’t felt the tremors, one X user wrote: “Definitely felt much stronger than a 4.8.” Another added: “Earthquake swarms just as I was about to go to bed. strong enough for things to fall and break. sadly, a few broken decorations.”
When people hear about earthquakes in California, most immediately think of the San Andreas fault system, but it was actually the San Jacinto fault system that caused most of the problems early on Monday…
The quakes appear to have been caused by the San Jacinto fault system, meteorologists have said. It is one of the most active faults in southern California.
Overall, the USGS says that there have been 27 significant quakes of at least magnitude 2.5 that have hit the state within the past 24 hours. That certainly isn’t anything to freak out about, but it is definitely noteworthy.
And all of this activity comes just a few days after a magnitude 4.6 earthquake shook up the wealthy residents of Malibu… A magnitude 4.6 earthquake struck about 8 miles northwest of Malibu on Friday, according to the United States Geological Survey.
The earthquake was reported at 1:47 p.m., the USGS website said. It occurred at a geological depth of 13.9 kilometers, or nearly 9 miles. The USGS is reporting at least a dozen aftershocks, with the largest measuring at a magnitude of 3.0.
We haven’t seen this sort of sustained seismic activity in southern California in a long time. Is something very unusual starting to happen?
Let’s keep a very close eye on the numbers coming from the Southern California Earthquake Data Center. If the number of quakes in a week rises above 1,000 and stays there, I would say that there is cause for alarm. (READ MORE)
