M5.6 Earthquake 11 km N of Redwood Valley, CA — June 24, 2026

On June 24, 2026 at 15:10 UTC, a magnitude 5.6 shallow crustal earthquake struck 11 km N of Redwood Valley, CA, at a depth of 8.1 km and coordinates 39.3637°, -123.2293°. The earthquake was reported felt by 4,807 peopleacross a wide area, with a maximum shaking intensity of Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) 7.5 (severe). The USGS PAGER system issued a yellow alert level for this event, indicating local impact possible. This earthquake was detected by 57 seismic stations with excellent location accuracy and was assigned a USGS significance rating of 1310, making it one of the most significant global earthquakes in recent days. The nearest populated place is Willits (population 5,008).

Physical scale: An earthquake of magnitude 5.6 releases seismic energy equivalent to roughly 4 kilotons of TNT. Empirical fault-scaling laws (Wells & Coppersmith, 1994) estimate the subsurface rupture length at approximately 4.3 km — a useful intuition for the size of the slip patch on the fault.

Active aftershock sequence: This earthquake is the mainshock of an ongoing aftershock sequence. In the 4 hours since the mainshock, the USGS has recorded 11 aftershocks within 20 km of the epicenter, including 0 of magnitude 3.0 or greater. The strongest aftershock was a magnitude 2.8 event 54 minutes ago. Aftershock sequences from mainshocks of magnitude 5.6 typically continue for days to weeks and gradually diminish over time, though occasional larger aftershocks remain possible.

The epicenter is located in California, a region characterized by the San Andreas transform fault system, where the Pacific and North American plates slide past each other at roughly 46 mm per year. The nearest mapped fault system is the San Andreas Fault. View all earthquakes in California.

Learn more: San Andreas Fault · Magnitude scale · Aftershock sequences