1,000+ Confirmed New Madrid Quakes in Missouri Since 1984

How many earthquakes would you consider a lot? Perhaps it's the number of confirmed New Madrid earthquakes that have shaken Missouri in the past 40 years as that number has soared past 1,000.

I nearly broke my computer attempting this so I don't recommend you try it. I asked the database at the USGS to calculate all of the New Madrid, Missouri earthquakes that have been confirmed by a seismologist since 1984 of all magnitudes. As it crunched the numbers, my laptop fans cranked up to the max to try and keep up. This is the result.

The grand total is 1,009 confirmed New Madrid Seismic Zone quakes in the past 40 years. Here are the largest from that number with the strongest being a 4.8 quake that struck September 26, 1990.

One interesting thing I noticed is that it seems like the frequency of New Madrid quakes has been increasing over the past decade, but there's another possibility. Before the era of the internet, I wonder if data wasn't watched as closely meaning many of the smaller quakes in the 80's and 90's just weren't registered? This is a question I need to ask one of my USGS friends.

Before I asked the database for the number, I would have guessed the earthquake number would be higher. Still, more than 1,000 is plenty and I prefer the many smaller ones to a potential catastrophic shaker.