Minor Earthquake Near Cullowhee Shakes Asheville and Surrounding Areas

The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed a 2.7-magnitude earthquake near Dillsboro on Monday, March 23, 2026. It happened just after 8 p.m., with an epicenter about 6.4 miles northeast of Dillsboro, roughly 50 miles west of Asheville.

The quake had a surprisingly shallow depth of just 0.1 km. While earthquakes in Western North Carolina and the surrounding region are less frequent and normally much weaker than those in the western part of the U.S., they tend to travel further and faster. That reach was on full display Monday night, with residents across Jackson County, Haywood County, and as far as Franklin reporting the jolt.

WRAL viewer Tony Abbondanzio said he felt the earthquake in Franklin, North Carolina. "Thought someone hit our house with their car," Abbondanzio wrote.

According to Jackson County Emergency Management, there were no reports of damage. Meteorologists in the region sought additional shake reports from locals to help map the quake's reach across Asheville, Waynesville, and surrounding communities.

The USGS noted that although earthquakes are less frequent in the central and eastern United States, they are often felt over a much broader region than similarly sized quakes in the West, a characteristic that explains why a sub-3.0 event near the Macon County–Jackson County line could unsettle households more than 20 miles away.

Since 2026, North Carolina has had three quakes of magnitude 3.0 or above and 16 quakes between 2.0 and 3.0. Monday's event is the latest in a pattern of low-level seismic activity that has become a quiet but consistent feature of life in the mountain counties of Western North Carolina.