What might really be happening in Washington State?

reply to post by westcoast


Well, I wasn't imagining things! I was bit off on my time....but in looking back at my post time on another thread (felt it while I was typing the response), it matches up.

Here is a screen shot:





This was pulled of the CMW seismo on this map.

Now, this sesimo is less than 15 miles from my house...more like ten. The stations to the west, north and south don't show it...the two just to the east register it slightly, so this backs up my impression of a VERY local, shallow quake. It is micro to be sure, but it must have been just about right under my house! Eager to see the location!

ETA: Actually, in looking more closely at the time, I was right on. I had said 3-4 min before my post which would have been 9:12. According to the seismo it was about 9:11:20 I am reporting it felt to the PNSN

Okay, this is starting to get a bit bizzare.

Puterman, I know i ask a lot of you , but perhaps you could help me locate these? They are very odd events.

I was just outside and experienced another local quake. Today is the first time since the 6.7 seattle quake, that I have actually felt quakes this strong near my home. I have felt a 6.0 in cali, the 2.4 down in tacoma last week and numerous smaller events in eastern washington......but these are just plain wierd.


I already described the one this morning. It was close to the typical "It felt/sounded like a truck hit my house"....only it had a rumbling/thunder quality to it before the bang at the end.

This one just a bit ago (I looked at my phone a minute or so after and it said 1:50)....I was outside in my backyard. I failed to mention earlier that the rumbling/bang was on the backside of my house....to the east. Just now, again to the east, at first I thought something big had gotten into my chicken coup and was rumbling around in it...that is what it sounded like. Then it got bigger and I realized it was coming from beyond there...towards the mountains to the east. The sound grew into a rumble that I felt and then I thought maybe it was some really wierd thunder (there were some dark clouds), but the characterstic of this was NOT typical thunder. It continued to build and the ground shook....with a louder bang at the end and then it was gone. I realized just before it stopped that it had to be another earthquake. I waited.......nothing further. I gathered my bearings, walked to back of my property to look east and finally thought to look at the time on my phone. What concerns me is the sound was coming from the direction of Glacier Peak.

I just came inside and sure enough....it is showing on the same seismo whithin a minute of when I noted it!!!!!

I also just got a response back from USGS with another email address to the PNSN encouraging me to report directly to them since I am so specific.

Anyways.....this is just wierd, and I am feeling as if there is more to come. Stay tuned.




(The two quakes I felt for sure are the first and last....that little one in the middle, I thought I felt something around that time but wasn't sure so didn't make note. Not wanting to get paranoid...but now I marking it ALL down)

NOTE: Anyone up my way feeling any of this??????

Ugh...this is frustrating. PNSN never got back to me, and they haven't posted either of these quakes, but you know that little blip in between the two bigger ones? THAT one just got posted! I probably DID feel it. Note the depth on it....0 km.

Magnitude 1.6
Date-Time Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at 19:43:50 UTC
Tuesday, May 31, 2011 at 12:43:50 PM at epicenter

Location 48.721°N, 122.014°W
Depth 0 km (~0 mile) set by location program
Region WASHINGTON
Distances 14 km (9 miles) E (87°) from Acme, WA
19 km (12 miles) SSW (197°) from Glacier, WA
20 km (12 miles) SE (127°) from Deming, WA
34 km (21 miles) E (95°) from Bellingham, WA
43 km (27 miles) SSE (151°) from Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada
102 km (64 miles) SE (127°) from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Location Uncertainty Error estimate not available
Parameters NST= 8, Nph= 8, Dmin=10 km, Rmss=0.18 sec, Gp=144°,
M-type=duration magnitude (Md), Version=1
Source Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network

Event ID uw05311943


source

They seem to still be back-filling the quakes from today...so I will try and be patient.

reply to post by westcoast


Not quite sure what it is you are wanting me to do but here is the Glacier Paek seismo from today (IRIS version). I decided to upload as it is an interesting one full of microquakes.

Edit: Decided maybe that was the wrong day so here is yesterdays as well



Can't get your times in my head. Are you 6 or 7 hours behind us now? We are UTC +1

What does your 1:50 relate to? Can you see the quake on the plot?

reply to post by PuterMan


Yikes! That's glacier peak? Last time there was a quake there was in 2007 (2 for the year)Ugh.....

Sorry, I should have been clearer on the times, etc. I am Pacific standard, which I believe means I am seven hour behind UTC...so it was at 16:10 UTC on 5/31/11....or 9:50am Local time

The second one was at 20:50 UTC on 5/31/11 or 1:50pm local time

The CMW station I captured the screen shot from is about 40-50 miles from Glacier peak, in between big lake and clear lake in Washington state. (about 15 miles from my house)

Are those glacier peak graphs from today (6/1) or yesterday?

Darn those IRIS seismos...I finally had some of them saved, but when my laptop crashed I lost the lists. UGH

They always show SUCH a better picture of things. Thanks for pulling those.

ETA: I should also add, while PNSN located that other quake inbetween the two I felt (which was about 30 miles or so to my north), they still have not located those other two and i haven't gotten a return email.



ANOTHER ETA: LOL...I just realized your edit. Okay, looking at the glacier peak seismo for the 31st, none are showing on it. But that doesn't surprise me. I think they were VERY local and shallow. Note the one that was listed near acme (about 30 miles from me) was at 0km depth.

reply to post by westcoast


Yes those are glacier peak and here is the link for todays. GPW.UW..EHZ.2011.153

There are definitely some local quakes there but I have not had time to pull those yet to have a listen.

Here are a few links to the IRIS recorders. I just added them.

Cascades IRIS seismograms

Save this link as it is the only on that goes direct to the Cascades at present.

reply to post by PuterMan


Puterman, You are the BEST! Thank you. I have saved the link. (love your site btw, a must-have for any quake/volcano watcher)

I'll be waiting to see if they list any of those glacier peak quakes. There are at least two on yesterdays that seem big enough to be located, and they at least look local to the volcano. I have never seen so much action there.

I did a little more digging around for local quakes and found a few that are not on the main lists. There were a few odd ones near my home a couple (three?) months back. This was when my little dog started acting all wierd and it coincided with these local quakes. Never saw so many in my immediaet area in the years I have been here. Well, there was one on the 24th in the same area....7 miles from my home and at 0 km depth. I would hazard a quess that the ones I felt the other day will be in a very similar location and depth....but either closer to me or bigger.

I am really curious now. I think I will go back and map out the recent past for these small surface quakes. I mean, yes I litterally live in between two volcanos so I would imagine that although I am not aware of any faults under me, I would think there has to be a volcanic seismic field associated with Mount Baker and Glacier Peak, much like St. helens. If this is the case....than these small quakes might have some signigicance, especially if Glacier Peak is starting to stir a bit.

Magnitude 1.1 - duration magnitude (Md)
Time Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 2:24:15 AM (PDT)
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at 9:24:15 (UTC)
Distance from Lyman, WA - 4 km (3 miles) NW (325 degrees)
Hamilton, WA - 8 km (5 miles) WNW (294 degrees)
Sedro-Woolley, WA - 12 km (7 miles) ENE (61 degrees)
Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada - 58 km (36 miles) SSE (165 degrees)

Coordinates 48 deg. 33.4 min. N (48.556N), 122 deg. 5.6 min. W (122.094W)
Depth 0 km (0.0 miles)
Location Quality Fair
Location Quality Parameters Nst= 6, Nph= 6, Dmin=14 km, Rmss=0.16 sec, Erho=0.1 km, Erzz=0 km, Gp=187.2 degrees
Event ID# uw05240924
Additional Information map


map and list (check out those two nearest sedro woolley. The one right above it is the one I listed above. The other one above it near acme is the smaller one showed on my earlier screen shot. It is very near Mt. Baker. Note they are both at 0 KM depth)


ETA: I have sent another email to a scientist at PNSN that has answered me in the past. We'll see!

Looks like we just had a decent sized quake (around 3.0 or so) just south of me...maybe near marysville. Nothing on USGS yet....

Quick link...will be gone in a bit

ETA: Looks like it was a bit further south....just North of Seattle. Listed as a 2.2...not reviewed yet though, I think it'll be bigger.

This is a computer-generated message -- this event has not yet been reviewed by a seismologist.



Magnitude 2.2 Date-Time
Monday, June 06, 2011 at 02:35:16 UTC
Sunday, June 05, 2011 at 07:35:16 PM at epicenter
Location 47.762°N, 122.350°W Depth 27.5 km (17.1 miles) set by location program
Region SEATTLE-TACOMA URBAN AREA, WASHINGTON
Distances

1 km (1 miles) NW (308°) from Shoreline, WA
4 km (2 miles) S (183°) from Esperance, WA
4 km (2 miles) SE (142°) from Woodway, WA
15 km (9 miles) N (355°) from Seattle, WA

Location Uncertainty

horizontal +/- 0.8 km (0.5 miles); depth fixed by location program

Parameters

NST= 54, Nph= 55, Dmin=4 km, Rmss=0.32 sec, Gp= 22°,
M-type=duration magnitude (Md), Version=0

Source

Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network

Event ID

uw06060235

reply to post by westcoast


2.7 near Shoreline Shoreline
second line. Just north of Seattle fault line's..

Okay, so I never heard back from USGS or PNSN again and they never added those quakes to the list. I know they happened however, and I even have the screen shot saved to prove it. Also, I was NOT the only one to feel them. I found other friends that also felt it...but didn't realize it was a quake. (they were several miles away from me..actually closer to the seismo)

Anyways..I have noticed the last couple of days that the VALT seismo at Helens is showing some long strong signals. Very reminisent of some other HT associated with smaller eruptions over the years.

Check it out: valt

That is the current one. GO HERE to pull up the previous. Those are even more impressive.

Also...I have also noticed that since those quakes I felt, there have been numerous others in my general area. This is not typical activity......keep an eye on it. (Glacier peak continues to show small quakes)

Now...what do you think is going on here ?

That link won't last long, so go this PNSN map and pull up B05D.

This is near Marysville....near where there have been a couple of Quakes lately. I've been watching these for awhile now and haven't seen any kind of sig like this here before.... (so I don't think it's trains this time )

reply to post by westcoast


yowza! isn't that what HTs are supposed to look like?

reply to post by bkaust


Well, I don't want to jump to any conclusions. I have been too quick in the past to call something a HT when it wasn't. To look at it, yes you could say that...however, these seismos I have found are quite hard to read correctly. Others have better links and resources to try and pin down the true origins...or to listen to it. It looks like it quieted down during the evening hours and has now started back up again. Given this, and the way they look and that they aren't showing anywhere else, I am thinking now it could be some sort of local construction or work....like a jack-hammer or heavy machinery of some sort.

Glacier peak now though looks like it had a real quake a bit ago.

Glacier peak

Whent he above link expires, go HERE and look at GPW. There are several smaller ones, but the biggest occured at 17:56 UTC. let's see if this one makes the list. I am really begining to wonder how many of them ever do...???

Here is another link to another graph for glacier, shows the last quake even better: EHZ channel

Okay, an update on Glacier Peak. current seismo.

Check out the EHZ channel in the above post too...there has been a bit more rumbling.

Still nothing listed, but to look at it, it appears to be definate quakes. At least three notable that I can tell...as well as some prolonged sigs.

Keeping a close eye on her, she is in my backyard and my house is built ontop of her last lahar!

So another decent sized quake today at Glacier Peak, but no report of either of these. What the heck???!!


Glacier Peak EHZ

reply to post by westcoast

Let me describe it this way: I was outside at night and heard what I thought was a wierd thunder, but I knew it wasn't thunder. It was if I could feel the vibration in my body and then hear it from a distance, low and rumbling. The sky was clear over me and according to the radar, everywhere near me. I immediately went inside and checked to make sure baker wasn't rumbling (that's what it sounded like) and checked the local weather. I found the thread regarding this very noise later and I just don't know what to make of it. I have heard it three times now.

That's not good.

I have always dreamed of retiring to either Northern California, Oregon or Washington with the big rolling mountains and hills............where we are at everything is flat flat flat. But we do have a lot of trees and a big lake.

My brother in law who is a geologist says that the whole Northwest is over due to blow at any time.

Don't want to panic you but just be aware, have a bug out bag ready and be ready to leave asap.

Who knows? Something could happen tomorrow or not for another 1,000 years.

If you have a good job, family, friends you can't very well just pick up and leave.

I hope everything your way remains cool and calm. Sending well wishes your way.

But, if the ground is rumbling maybe keep a log of any unusual activity either ground or air and see if a pattern isn't developing.

For sure you won't get a straight answer out of our government officials.

Ask around, network. Maybe talk to some college students that are into geology. I'm sure there are geological club networking sites/blogs on the net to you can research.

Always wanted to go Northwest.

Worked with the State of Oregon with my last job and the man said him and his wife visited Oregon for vacation for three weeks, and the day they were to leave his wife sat on the hotel bed and said, "nope I'm not going back to Chicago with you................I'm staying here" - they both found jobs and sent for their things.

I hear and from the pictures and my second son says the Northwest is absolutely breathtakeningly beautiful.

Again, Good luck and keep us posted on what's going on as the news does't.

reply to post by westcoast

I was just outside and experienced another local quake. Today is the first time since the 6.7 seattle quake, that I have actually felt quakes this strong near my home. I have felt a 6.0 in cali, the 2.4 down in tacoma last week and numerous smaller events in eastern washington......but these are just plain wierd.


I already described the one this morning. It was close to the typical "It felt/sounded like a truck hit my house"....only it had a rumbling/thunder quality to it before the bang at the end.

Okay, we had a 4.5 in Illinois a few months back I posted about............the bang I think are plates actually moving.

If you're getting that much activity...........again keep a log but maybe you might consider moving like further away from any fault lines.

I don't want to scare you, maybe that is normal for that area but there is so much going on in the world today, everything seems to be shaking, rattling and rolling, maybe you just might consider a move inland even further.

Just that one little bang and jiggling (they say it was a 4.5 close by) was scary enough for us and we never have any seismic activity.

Found this site: hope it's helpful.

earthquake.usgs.gov...

reply to post by ofhumandescent


Thanks for your posts! Sorry I didn't reply sooner. I agree, this area is absolutely beautiful...even though lately it seems to be raining 99% of the time!

You are correct that scientists have been warning for sometime now (and increasingly so lately) that the whole area is due for a large subduction quake. The latest estimate is that it is likely to happen sometime in the next 20 yrs. Now, those that understand this science realize the importance of this. Geologically speaking, hundreds and even thousands of years is recent. To say that a major, 9+ subduction quake is likely to happen in the next 20 yrs is huge. It could happen today, tomorrow, in ten years, twenty or longer....it is all guess work.

I am as prepared as possible (you can only prepare so much for this type of event ) This is one of the reasons that I am such an avid quake watcher and am so interested in geology....because of where I live. I am always amazed at how ignorant the average resident here is. They are clueless....completely.

Those quakes were never recorded (ones posted above), and I never got a response to me emails. I don't know what to make of that.

There was a nice little quake near seattle.....a really deep one(for this area):

Magnitude 3.0
Date-Time Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 01:52:58 UTC
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 at 06:52:58 PM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location 47.754°N, 122.362°W
Depth 31.7 km (19.7 miles) set by location program
Region SEATTLE-TACOMA URBAN AREA, WASHINGTON
Distances 2 km (1 miles) WSW (258°) from Shoreline, WA
4 km (3 miles) SSE (159°) from Woodway, WA
5 km (3 miles) SSW (193°) from Esperance, WA
14 km (9 miles) N (351°) from Seattle, WA

Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 0.4 km (0.2 miles); depth fixed by location program
Parameters NST= 89, Nph= 89, Dmin=5 km, Rmss=0.32 sec, Gp= 22°,
M-type=duration magnitude (Md), Version=2
Source Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network

Event ID uw06150152


source


The deep tremors continue and glacier peak is still quite active (none of those quakes have been listed either )

So....things are still brewing and interesting! I'll leave you with one of my most recent pictures (because I can...it's MY thread! )

This was in my front yard yesterday....a giant silk moth. You don't see them this big around here often. Personally, this is the largest one I have EVER seen on this side of the state.

I shouldn't anthropomorphise - but he's a charming little fella sitting there all laid back & legs crossed !

On a more serious note it must be very frustrating not to get any replies on your email queries , but, in my experience persevere - become a thorn in their side and keep sending the same question daily if necessary, I think they'll answer you eventually if only to stop you blocking up their inbox .

reply to post by slidingdoor


Yup, he was quite the little character...I have now photographed a couple of different species and they were both very charming!


Anyone ever had to opportunity to go over the North Cascades Highway? (hwy 20) Talk about an incredible drive. I can't help but imagine what it must have been like taking a horse through it...it was the original N/W trail across the cascades and is still closed during the winter months (it just re-opened a couple of weeks ago). Anyways, I had went over it today and was able to get some pics.