California Earthquakes

Hey all. I live in Los Angeles and we had a couple of earthquakes over the weekend and they were quite unusual. I didn't see this mentioned anywhere else, but I am curious if other SoCal people felt it and their take on it.

My wife and I were both in the living room and there was this feeling like a wave hitting the building. There was no sound and no residual shaking. It was like an explosion without sound.

My wife said "did something just fly over us?" To me it felt like an explosion had happened (reminded me of some artillery I felt during exercises) but it must have been far away or underground because there was no sound.

Anyway, we forgot about it and then later (maybe next day?) the same thing happened, only this time it was more pronounced and our whole apartment felt like it "leaned" for a second and we heard some unpleasant sounds.

Has anyone else experienced this kind of "earthquake" (if that is indeed what it was).

I have only been in one quake. It was in 1984 when I lived in Monterey Bay. It was a 4.2 centered approximately one mile from the house I was living in. It sounded identical to what you have described.

I am from Oklahoma and therefore seismic events are not something I have experienced except for that single event. I grew up near an artillery base, and then later spent my teenage years not far from a limestone quarry. The night the quake went of in Monterey Bay the first thing that went through my mind was - hmmm, artillery training. Then I remembered I wasn't in my hometown. Then I thought "Hmmm, Dolese's blasting." And then I realized I wasn't there either.

In the amount of time it took me to realize I wasn't in Oklahoma and this was something entirely different a slow rolling "rumble" came up the hill from the direction of the ocean (the center was about a 1/2 mile off the coast, and we were about 1/2 mile inland) and slowly rumbled like a big 18 wheeler sounds going across an overpass toward the house...and then the house began to shake as the rumble pass "through us".

The initial quake sounded just like an artillery round, blasting detonation, or sonic boom.

Yeah, I have been through more than a few living out here and none have been like that. there was no shaking, just a single wave. It was wierd.