There's been a strong earthquake with an epicenter near Salina, Kansas Friday night which has already been reported by more than 100 throughout the central part of the state.
The most seismically-active region in America this week isn't the New Madrid Fault in Missouri or even the San Andreas in California. It's a small area in west Texas that has been rocked by more than 260 earthquakes the just the past 7 days alone.
It's been one of the most active weeks seismically speaking in the Midwest of 2023. Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and even parts of Tennessee have seen at least 49 earthquakes in just the past 7 days.
When two massive earthquakes rocked the New Madrid, Missouri area in late 1811 and early 1812, most of the damage is only recorded in history books. But, there is still a remnant of those historic quakes in the form of sand volcanoes that can still be found if you scour Google Earth.
I follow earthquakes just about every day of my life because they've always interested in me, but I can't recall ever seeing a quake in the middle of Kansas like there was Friday night? It wasn't a tiny one either.
I've learned over the years that some of the weirdest events have a reason for happening if you're willing to dig deep enough to figure out why. That's true for a series of recent earthquakes in Illinois that seemed to happen in unexpected places. There's a USGS map which shows it's not weird at all.
Well, this was much larger than usual. One of the largest quakes of 2023 has hit the New Madrid Fault in Missouri late Friday night and has reportedly been felt by hundreds.
I was born and raised in Missouri so I'm familiar with earthquakes along the New Madrid Fault. I also lived in California 30 years ago where earthquakes are a daily occurrence. But, why in the world was there an earthquake big enough to be felt right across the Iowa border today? I am mystified.
There was no damage reported, but thanks to the New Madrid Fault, Missouri was just hit by one of its biggest quakes so far in 2023 and it was reportedly felt by dozens in the area.