Swarm of Missouri New Madrid Fault Quakes – 4 in Just a Few Hours

The week is off to a shaky start along the New Madrid Fault in Missouri. There's been a sudden uptick of quakes with 4 being reported in just a few hours time and nearly 20 over the past 7 days.

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Since I live in Missouri, I pay special attention to what's going on along the New Madrid Fault. Normally when I see small quakes, I don't share anything about it since that's normal. But, just today (Monday, November 13, 2023) at the time of this writing, there have already been 4 quakes over the span of just a few hours.

This map shows a total of 17 over the past few days which is definitely more earthquakes than we normally see in a short time in Missouri. The good news is the largest has only been a 2.3 so far.

No reason for alarm, but it would be a good idea to pay attention to this ongoing swarm in the event that it's a precursor to something bigger. More often than not, small quake swarms like this will eventually just settle down as energy is released along the fault lines. But, it's believed that sometimes a swarm is a warning of something bigger that's building up. Let's hope that's not the case.

It was only less than a month ago that a New Madrid quake was strong enough that it was felt by hundreds. It's worth remembering what the USGS said about their findings about what a 7.7 earthquake is capable of. Let's hope we never find out in our lifetime.