Weird Quake Felt by Hundreds Rattled St. Louis, Missouri Thursday

Well, this was certainly unexpected. A strange earthquake felt by hundreds in the St. Louis, Missouri area has now been confirmed by the USGS.

Based on the time stamp on the USGS earthquake page, this earthquake occurred at 6:55pm Thursday evening just to the east of the St. Louis, Missouri area centered near Germantown, Illinois.

According to the USGS, the quake has now been confirmed to be a 2.8 magnitude earthquake. Within minutes, there were already hundreds reporting they felt the earthquake in the St. Louis area with many reporting directly to the USGS.

No doubt this was a New Madrid Fault Zone earthquake and while it certainly wasn't major, any quake that close to St. Louis that was actually felt by many in St. Louis is noticeable.

It's worth noting that this was a very deep quake around 14 miles below ground.

It will be interesting to see if this is just one isolated quake or part of a swarm. Many have wondered if Missouri would ever see that hypothetical 7.7 magnitude quake that the USGS says is possible. The USGS says there is a 7 to 10% chance of a quake that large happening in Missouri during our lifetime.

As this is a developing story, it will be updated if new information is reported or if there are other quakes in the region.