I’m getting pretty good at estimating the size of these quakes we’ve been having. Another pretty good one just went though and I immediately though “Hmmm, that’s about a 4.5 I’d say”. Checked the USGS site and a few minutes later it was confimred…4.7. Not too far off!
Apparently until we have another bigger than the 5 that “started” all of this or things drop back down to normal these are all considered aftershocks. Even though some of them are apparently coming from a different fault within the same system. Seems kind of odd to me…but I’m not the one who makes the rules for naming these things so that’s what I get to live with. I could always go back to school become a seismologist and fight for change. But that would be pretty silly. I like geology…but not enough to dedicate my life to it.
Then again with a butt that’s calibrated well enough to be within 2 points on the richter scale…maybe I missed my calling!
UPDATE
They revised the rating on this one to a 4.8…but apparently it was followed almost immediately by a 4.4 – which averages out to a 4.6 I didn’t feel two separate…though it did feel like a kind of rough shake and a distinctly smoother shake. So maybe my in chair seismograph just averaged the two quakes together…in that case my 4.5 guess is even closer.