Alaska earthquake: Strong 7.2 quake ROCKS city of Anchorage - Tsunami Warning

5.0 M aftershock!

New Years Eve. 10 K from Anchor-town! Decent shaker! A great way to send off the year!

Even did a practice count down to NYE at 6 PM two minutes before!

Yet another large one! 7:45 am local.

UAF website is not responding. Guess (AK’s favorite new game: Guess The Magnitude).

Over 4.5, probably not 5.5 (‘‘twas a good shaker).

Low: 5.0
Me: 5.2

Was longer than the others. Quick check seems like the PAC Rim is busy over last 24 hours.

ETA: 5.4 M per UAF

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

I've lost faith in the "science" of seismology. That was significantly stronger and longer lasting than the New Years Eve 5.0 epicentered in almost the same location and depth. Far, far too many of these larger aftershocks are getting "adjusted" multiple times for me to believe this is a purely scientific measurement. Hell, the initial quake was "adjusted" at least 3 times that I am aware of... I believe the initial measurement was an 8, then "adjusted" to somewhere in the mid 6 range, then 7.2, before a final "adjustment" to a 7. I am not overly conspiratorial... I think the 911 inside job thing, crisis actors, HAARP, and whatnot are asinine horsecrap manifestations of insane fools, but in this case the "officials" can't seem to get their story straight without massaging the "science" and that reeks of them manipulating the numbers.


I was in Eagle River today. First time up there since before Thanksgiving. The damage they experienced is staggering. Haven't heard squat about it on the news beyond the collapsed house and the series of condos the Muni condemned. Businesses, some newer buildings like the Starbucks and McDonald's and some older like Alaska Club and the Value Village donation center massively damaged. Micky Ds lost their whole front windows and outer wall, the entire ceiling in Starbucks came down and most of their tile work popped out, the wall at Value Village is propped up with metal braces and the building is red tagged... nothing about any of it on the news. Alaska is trying to keep folks from panicking, IMO.

a reply to: burdman30ott6


The "revised" number is ridiculous. And yeah, they are trying to keep people from panicking. So why not just tell the truth?

Sunday was bigger than 5.1. I didn't know about ER damage. They are keeping a lid on that. Heck, Ch11 had to move to a new news room but it "only a 7.0, er, 7.1." I said from the beginning that it was more towards 7.4 or larger which totally explains a "5.0 (revised)" aftershock (larger initial quake with larger aftershocks, not the convenient truth they are "officially" doling out).

I need to stock up on water. Maybe get a bag of Costco black beans and a bag of rice. And probably a pressure cooker. Be ready for massive duration power outage (cook on the grill until the propane runs out!).

I don't think we are over the pressure release from that fault line yet. Although they are getting further apart. We'll have another 5.0 around Easter (my guestimate).

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

I have been watching since the 7.1 and have several friends in Anchorage and surrounding area and no one has said much other than they are sick of the aftershocks, but 5's in themselves can be damaging and there seems to be a fair number of them.

Dunno if the numbers are being fudged or not, but myself personally,
I am worried that there is going to be a bigger one.

I am far enough away and far enough on the inside passage to not be effected unless the coast going down through Southeast unzips but that could happen....

back in Jan 2013 we had a 7.3ish that shook the island pretty good.
I wasn't here for that one, but have always worried that a bigger one is on the horizon and those northern quakes don't help...lol

Tonight we had a 4.2 aftershock, weird one though. No shaking, no duration, just a hard as hell lurch. No noise leading up to it, either. I honestly thought something hit the house and shuddered it.

I'm wondering if the drought conditions are responsible for the different feeling... like maybe the S-waves lose energy faster when the ground is not saturated.

South Central AK is having a rough time of late... quakes, drought, fires, Beijing level air quality with the smoke, crime off the charts. I'm just waiting for the plagues of locusts and the trumpets of the angelic host at this point.

a reply to: burdman30ott6

Let's not forget the plague of wasps.

I talked to a guy who is in the pest control business and he tells me they are getting many times the normal calls for wasps.

I thought I felt my bed jerk around that time last night. Just a single jerk.

Next I suppose a volcano will go off.

a reply to: Blaine91555

Yeah, the yellowjackets have really enjoyed the hot dry summer. I have a nest in the corner of the back of the house which I can't get to without removing a run of siding. Amazingly nobody has been stung, and I don't see any reason to tackle them until we're down to freezing and they're dead or dying.

Few mosquitoes compared to normal summers, though! Not to mention the beautiful colors of fall... which yeah, I know, I know, it's not fall that's killing the leaves, it's drought and tree borer beetles causing the leaves to turn yellow and fall off while we're still in the 70s, but close enough ya?

a reply to: burdman30ott6

I'd be really happy about the temp's if not for the drought and the smoke.

Oddly, we usually end up with a yellow jacket nest or two, but this year not one. The squirrels have all but disappeared also and I'm used to fighting them all summer. Only one small one all summer and its gone now.

Only three Stellars Jays this year and we usually have a dozen of them hanging around begging for bird seed. We have a magpie that's getting brazen about attacking everything and they usually are shy.

Yeah, the belt of trees behind us have a lot of yellow leaves and one of my neighbors bushes, don't know what it is, is turning red and it's never done that before. Damn opportunistic bugs anyway.

Way fewer spiders this year around the house also.

It's the end I tell ya!!!!

a reply to: Blaine91555

The spiders probably depend on the mosquitoes for the bulk of their food. I watched a yellowjacket get caught in one of our raspberry orb weaver webs a couple of weeks ago and the spider moved surprisingly quickly to snip it out of the web and actually released it. I suppose they'd destroy the web and then be too dangerous to the spider getting stung to be seen as a good prey for the spider (?) Otherwise, you're right, we've had less spider activity this year for sure.

Supposedly, the grease stains under every cottonwood tree this summer are also caused by bugs. The other thing that's been a bit troubling has been the white spruce in the greenbelts losing their needles... that's not spruce bark beetles, it's just plain old drought conditions. Wonder what new hells winter will bring us?

a reply to: burdman30ott6

The sticky stuff is from the swarms of aphids. The birch down here on the peninsula were covered in them too. I’m so heartbroken over Skilak and the refuge. The fires chased me back out of the woods this summer.
Kind of happy to have some normal winter cold back lately. Things have been crazy with the warmth all the way up to actual winter solstice this year. The heat kept me from harvesting a single devils club root all summer since they were all so sad. Things are suffering in south central on just about every level.

a reply to: woodsmom

Yep, been dang cold lately. The 10 year cycle, I reckon. Should kill off the spruce bark beetles for a couple of years and maybe stop the reports of ticks being found.