We had an earthquake here in Utah yesterday. Rated at 4.9 on the Richter scale, it centered about 4 miles NE of Randolph, Utah - near the northern border close to Idaho and Wyoming. The area is somewhat remote and sparsely populated. Randolph is usually known in Utah for frequently having the lowest temperature in the state on a given day.
The earthquake was felt in three states, but I did not feel it. The event brought out lots of speculation - will there be another one, a strong one? And lots of stories of prior earthquakes we each have experienced. I've felt a couple of earthquakes in the past, one significant one centered in Yellowstone in the 60's which caused a huge amount of damage there.
We suffered no damage here apart from a few pictures that fell off walls and items off of store shelves. No injuries. We were lucky this time.
Some people have commented on how many earthquakes there seem to have been this year. But the experts tell us we are right on track for the average number of strong earthquakes annually. The difference this year is the number that have occurred in more densely populated areas, resulting in greater human tolls. Those experts assure us this is not unusual or unexpected earthquake activity.
![]()
Indeed, I heard on the news last night that Utah has thousands of measurable earthquakes in a year, but that most of those are too slight to be felt. But every couple of years we have one like yesterday's event. Our mountainous state has several significant faults. Earthquakes are on the minds of state officials who coincidentally have been promoting earthquake preparedness recently. It makes sense to be prepared in case of an itnerruption of utilities and other services. They keep talking about "the big one" that we all expect to come someday.
If you are from California, yesterday's little shaking would have been scarcely noticed. But here, it's rare enough to warrant lots of news coverage and excitement among those who are eager to share what it felt like to them.
(By the way, I have to say at least the earthquake saved us from those annual news stories with TV reporters standing by mailboxes as people drop off their taxes just under the deadline. Haven't we all seen that one enough?)
And to be entirely predictable, here's today's video to go with our theme.
![]()
The earthquake was felt in three states, but I did not feel it. The event brought out lots of speculation - will there be another one, a strong one? And lots of stories of prior earthquakes we each have experienced. I've felt a couple of earthquakes in the past, one significant one centered in Yellowstone in the 60's which caused a huge amount of damage there.
We suffered no damage here apart from a few pictures that fell off walls and items off of store shelves. No injuries. We were lucky this time.
Some people have commented on how many earthquakes there seem to have been this year. But the experts tell us we are right on track for the average number of strong earthquakes annually. The difference this year is the number that have occurred in more densely populated areas, resulting in greater human tolls. Those experts assure us this is not unusual or unexpected earthquake activity.
If you are from California, yesterday's little shaking would have been scarcely noticed. But here, it's rare enough to warrant lots of news coverage and excitement among those who are eager to share what it felt like to them.
(By the way, I have to say at least the earthquake saved us from those annual news stories with TV reporters standing by mailboxes as people drop off their taxes just under the deadline. Haven't we all seen that one enough?)
And to be entirely predictable, here's today's video to go with our theme.
