Small Earthquake Recorded Offshore Ferndale Early Tuesday, No Tsunami Threat

A magnitude 2.3 earthquake rippled through the offshore waters west of Ferndale just after 1 a.m. Tuesday, rattling the seafloor roughly 38 miles from the Humboldt County coastline with no tsunami threat reported.

The quake was recorded at 1:24:41 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time on March 24, with its epicenter about 60 kilometers offshore in the coastal waters of northern Humboldt County, according to an automated seismic report. At that magnitude, the tremor fell below the threshold that most people on shore would feel. The USGS notes that earthquakes below magnitude 6.5 are "very unlikely to trigger a tsunami," and no advisory was issued for Tuesday's event.

The quake measured as a duration magnitude, or md, which seismologists use to calculate energy release from the length of shaking recorded on instruments. Earthquakes of this size don't usually produce destructive tsunamis, but small sea level changes can happen near the epicenter area.

The waters west of Ferndale are no stranger to seismic activity. Just two months prior, in January 2026, a cluster of quakes rattled the same offshore stretch, including a 4.3 near Ferndale on January 21 and a 3.0 event on January 23 centered roughly 81 miles offshore at a depth of 6 miles, according to USGS data. Tuesday's 2.3 was shallower in magnitude than any of those events.

Earthquakes are common in this area because it sits close to where the Pacific, North American, and Juan de Fuca plates converge, a spot known as the Mendocino Triple Junction. In the past century, there have been at least 40 other earthquakes of magnitude 6 or larger, including six of magnitude 7 or higher, within roughly 150 miles of that zone.

The most severe recent event in the region was a magnitude 6.4 that struck near Ferndale in December 2022, followed on January 1, 2023 by a magnitude 5.4 aftershock with a maximum intensity of VII, which broke windows, opened large cracks in buildings and caused power outages across Humboldt County, with some houses badly damaged after being shaken from their foundations.

Tuesday's pre-dawn tremor produced none of those consequences. Residents in Ferndale, Fortuna, and surrounding communities who sleep through small offshore quakes routinely may not have known it happened at all. Anyone who did feel shaking can file a report through the USGS "Did You Feel It?" database at earthquake.usgs.gov.