Swarm? Trio of New Madrid Quakes Kicks Off October in Missouri

Did you notice a mini-swarm of earthquakes near New Madrid, Missouri today? Likely not, but there was a trio of shakers that did get October off to a bang in the Missouri Bootheel.

I noticed something odd yesterday on the USGS earthquake site when there were 2 tiny earthquakes early in the day, but were nowhere to be found last night. Now, today (Tuesday, October 1) there are a trio of tiny quakes now appearing on their map all near New Madrid, Missouri.

No one is going to panic over a 1.8, a 1.4 and a 1.3 magnitude quake because they're not even large enough to be felt. Normally, any earthquake below a 2 magnitude will go unnoticed. I pay attention even to the small quakes in this part of Missouri because you never know when you might get a foreshock of a bigger quake to come. Unfortunately, there's no way to know it's a foreshock until a bigger quake happens. So, my point is I'm just an earthquake nerd that's interested in this stuff.

Someday in our lifetime, the New Madrid Seismic Zone may unleash a major quake that will change all of our lives. That's not today - so far. All it is at the moment is a trio of tiny quakes saying "Welcome to October, Missouri".