Towse: views from the hill

September 6, 2008

Recent Earthquakes – Map for 122-37

Filed under: California,life,quakes,San Francisco — Towse @ 4:08 am

Recent Earthquakes – Map for 122-37

We’re sitting at the dinner table.

Me: “Did you feel that?”

“Huh?”

Me: “Oh, come on. The chimes on the spiral fire-escape out there are rattling! Listen.”

“Oh. OK. I thought you were kicking the table. The seagulls are squawking too. 2. something.”

Me: “I say 3.5 and fairly nearby.”

I came up to check

4.1 4.0 (updated)

2 miles ENE of Alamo, CA

Shake. Rattle. Roll.

April 26, 2008

Recent Earthquakes – Map for 120-40

Filed under: quakes — Towse @ 6:07 pm

Recent Earthquakes – Map for 120-40

Reno’s rocking. …

[ref] nineteen shakes >= 3.0 in the last five days. …

3.5 2008/04/26 08:20:40 39.543N 119.936W 1.1 4 km ( 2 mi) NNE of Verdi-Mogul, NV

3.4 2008/04/26 02:11:59 39.525N 119.927W 2.1 3 km ( 2 mi) ENE of Verdi-Mogul, NV

3.7 2008/04/26 00:29:20 39.527N 119.927W 2.7 3 km ( 2 mi) ENE of Verdi-Mogul, NV

3.4 2008/04/25 23:43:50 39.521N 119.924W 1.4 3 km ( 2 mi) ENE of Verdi-Mogul, NV

4.7 2008/04/25 23:40:10 39.520N 119.930W 1.4 2 km ( 1 mi) ENE of Verdi-Mogul, NV

3.3 2008/04/25 23:39:59 39.516N 119.924W 1.7 3 km ( 2 mi) E of Verdi-Mogul, NV

3.6 2008/04/25 18:13:20 39.529N 119.918W 1.6 4 km ( 2 mi) ENE of Verdi-Mogul, NV

3.3 2008/04/25 10:30:10 39.531N 119.928W 1.4 3 km ( 2 mi) NE of Verdi-Mogul, NV

3.3 2008/04/25 01:42:58 39.521N 119.922W 2.6 3 km ( 2 mi) ENE of Verdi-Mogul, NV

3.3 2008/04/24 18:00:33 39.531N 119.929W 2.2 3 km ( 2 mi) NE of Verdi-Mogul, NV

3.6 2008/04/24 17:47:52 40.375N 115.374W 0.0 6 km ( 4 mi) ENE of Ruby Valley, NV

4.2 2008/04/24 15:55:49 39.527N 119.929W 2.8 3 km ( 2 mi) ENE of Verdi-Mogul, NV

3.0 2008/04/24 15:51:06 39.539N 119.938W 1.8 3 km ( 2 mi) NNE of Verdi-Mogul, NV

4.1 2008/04/24 15:47:04 39.533N 119.932W 1.1 3 km ( 2 mi) NE of Verdi-Mogul, NV

3.0 2008/04/24 00:33:15 37.891N 118.097W 5.5 42 km (26 mi) S of Tonopah
Junction, NV

3.0 2008/04/23 14:21:39 37.377N 114.696W 9.9 14 km ( 8 mi) SSE of Helene, NV

3.2 2008/04/22 19:06:54 37.992N 118.681W 5.6 38 km (23 mi) SSW of Qualeys Camp, NV

3.8 2008/04/22 13:40:09 41.221N 114.806W 7.7 18 km (11 mi) NE of Wells, NV

3.1 2008/04/21 12:14:10 39.517N 119.922W 2.6 3 km ( 2 mi) E of Verdi-Mogul, NV

Update: Earthquake wizards say the increasing 4.1->4.2->4.7 quakes don’t follow the standard pattern of large shake followed by decreasing intensity aftershocks. They don’t know quite what to make of it. CNN update

November 3, 2007

Magnitude 4.0 – WYOMING

Filed under: quakes — Towse @ 3:07 am

Magnitude 4.0 – WYOMING

Just saying …

October 31, 2007

I felt the earth move …

Filed under: food,life,quakes,San Francisco — Towse @ 6:11 am

We walked the 1.7mi or so down to Postrio for a 7p dinner so we could use a gift certificate we placed the winning bid on at a non-profit event last June. The certificate was good for a chef’s tasting menu for two. We splurged on the wine pairing with the meal and were well into dinner when I felt my chair give a shake.

“Earthquake,” I said to his nibs. He nodded.

My chair shook again. “A good earthquake,” I said. He nodded again.

My chair shook a third time and we looked up to see the inside of the light fixture above us begin to sway. The light fixture itself was locked in solid.

The shaking stopped and as we always do, we began to guess what the magnitude had been. I guessed a 3.2 somewhere in the near East Bay.

No one in the restaurant seemed fazed by it all. The women sitting next to us mentioned it to the waiter. “You probably just had too much to drink,” he replied.

re the magnitude Turns out I was nowhere near: the quake was a a magnitude 5.6. 5 miles NNE of Alum Rock, CA (in East San Jose, up in the hills where I grew up). 9.2 km (5.7 miles) deep. Lasted quite a while too. We didn’t feel the quake as strongly as we would’ve if the quake had been shallower.

We haven’t had anything as strong as a magnitude 5.6 in quite a while.

Hadn’t seen this at the USGS site before. His nibs says he’d seen it: it’s a relatively recent addition to their set of earthquake goodies:

Real-time Forecast of Earthquake Hazard: Maps showing the probability of strong shaking at any location in California within the next 24-hours.

The Web is a wonder.

Update: According to the Chron, the quake was the strongest since the Loma Prieta in October 1989. I thought so last night, but couldn’t find any verification for the gut feel. The Chron also quotes folks saying that this quake, which happened right where the Calaveras splits from the Hayward, might have consequences for spots further north on the fault lines. Batten down those hatches!

April 29, 2007

The earth shook, people died, the reefs rose, a PT boat is now sitting 10 feet out of water

Filed under: history,quakes — Towse @ 12:25 am

Quake brings WWII PT boat up from ocean floor

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Wreckage from a World War II torpedo boat was tossed up from the sea in the Solomon Islands after a powerful 8.1 earthquake hit the area in early April, an official said Friday.

Jay Waura of the National Disaster Management Office said the explosive-laden boat was exposed when reefs were pushed up three meters (10 feet) above sea level by the April 2 quake, which caused a devastating tsunami in the western Solomon Islands that killed 52 people.

The Solomons’ coastline is still littered with decaying military wrecks from World War II, including the torpedo patrol boat commanded by U.S. President John F. Kennedy.

[...]

Do you have your earthquake kit ready?

March 14, 2007

Found at Cliff House on Monday (12 March 2007)

Filed under: books,life,quakes,San Francisco — Towse @ 6:47 am

A long ramble (perhaps) to follow about our excursions on Monday and dinner at the Cliff House.

Suffice to say, that we were pumped to find one of Hough’s books

at the Cliff House gift shop when we stopped by to check out the merchandise before dinner.

February 26, 2007

5.4 up near Petrolia

Filed under: book promotion,books,bookstores,life,quakes,writing — Towse @ 7:26 pm

Recent Earthquakes – Info for event nc40193932:

A moderate earthquake occurred at 4:19:54 AM (PST) on Monday, February 26, 2007.

The magnitude 5.4 event occurred 52 km (32 miles) W of Ferndale, CA.

The hypocentral depth is 0.4 km (0.2 miles)

Right at the seaward edge of the Cascadia subduction zone.

We’ll be having dinner with Susan Hough on Thursday after her author talk at Kepler’s down in Menlo Park for her newest book: Richter’s Scale: Measure of an Earthquake, Measure of a Man

(In the area? Stop on by! Thursday March 01, 2007 — 7:30 p.m. at Kepler’s in Menlo Park)

(Buy now!)

I’m sure the our dinner conversation talk will turn to local earthquakes and Cascadia and Hayward and San Andreas. It always does.

February 23, 2007

3.4 on the Hayward Fault.

Filed under: quakes,San Francisco — Towse @ 11:59 pm

A minor earthquake occurred at 3:46:15 PM (PST) on Friday, February 23, 2007.
The magnitude 3.4 event occurred 3 km (2 miles) ESE of Berkeley, CA.
The hypocentral depth is 11 km ( 7 miles).

A sharp jolt here. No rumble. Set the collection of chimes attached to the fire escape jingling.

January 25, 2007

Earthquakes? Aliens? Or something else?

Filed under: quakes,woowoo — Towse @ 12:09 am

We’ve had a couple shakes recently including a 4.4 off the coast in far north California, along the Mendocino fault.

I thought I felt another one. So I clicked on my handydandy USGS map and nada.

I pulled up the larger look and … What’s that over there in Nevada? A 4.1? Followed by a flurry of aftershocks? Those are good shakes for an area where nothing ever happens, in an area where the nearest fault (the Furnace Creek Fault) is twenty-five miles or so away.

“Look at that,” I said. “Weird.”

His nibs looked over my shoulder.

“How close is that to Area 51?” he asked.

… or the Tonopah Test Range, for that matter.

Pull up the earthquake-Nevada map side by side with the Area 51 map.

Line them up. See what I see?

Those earthquakes (a 4.1, 3.2, 2.9, 2.6 &c., all clocking in at approximately 4 miles underground) are clustered off Hwy 95 between Goldfield and Scotty’s Junction.

Close enough to spit on the end of the Nellis Air Force Range in Nye County, NV.

What’s going on?

Art Bell and George Noory need a headsup, wouldn’t you say?

December 24, 2006

Another shake or three in Berkeley Friday night

Filed under: quakes — Towse @ 5:20 am

Well, clobbered that old post (this one?) while I was writing up something new.

(Let’s see if I can recreate the old post.)

We listened Friday night to Vienna Teng at the Independent, preceded by a delish dinner at NOPA.

While we were watching the show, my seat gave a shimmy, but then the seats at the Independent (and the tables) tend to shimmy.

If there’d been chandeliers, the chandeliers would’ve rattled.

No one else seemed to notice.

Quake on the Susan Hayward Fault. One large. Two aftershocks.

1.4 23:31:09 37.855N 122.234W 9.1 4 km ( 2 mi) N of Piedmont, CA
2.2 23:11:47 37.856N 122.237W 8.7 4 km ( 2 mi) ESE of Berkeley, CA
3.7 22:49:57 37.861N 122.237W 10.0 4 km ( 2 mi) ESE of Berkeley, CA

Here’s hoping my friends in earthquake country have their houses tied to their foundations, a stash of water put away and whatever they’ll need when they need it.

On Thursday night we were out to dinner (more on that to follow) and one of our dinner companions said he’d been talking to some cops about what they thought he’d need after an earthquake. Water, they said. A radio with batteries or a hand crank so you can get the news. And a side-by-side.

We don’t have a side-by-side.

Oh.

[sorry for the writeover and repost and feh. ...]

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