New Madrid Fault

Well, this was certainly a new place for an earthquake in Illinois where earthquakes don't normally happen and definitely aren't normally felt. It happened late Saturday night according to the USGS.

There's been a sudden uptick of seismic activity in southern Missouri with over 42 New Madrid quakes being recorded in just the past 30 days.

If you follow earthquakes along the New Madrid Fault Zone, you know it's not unusual to see a quake every few days or so. It is a bit unusual to see more than a dozen quakes over the span of just a few days in Missouri though. That's what's happened this week in the southern part of the Show Me State.

There's been a sudden uptick of earthquakes along the New Madrid Fault in Missouri with at least 9 new quakes being recorded in just the past few days.

Now that we're almost halfway through 2023, let's do some quick earthquake math. There have been more than 175 measurable quakes along the New Madrid Fault in the seismically-active part of Missouri.

There was an uptick in earthquakes in Missouri along the New Madrid Fault in May of 2023, but nothing truly unusual except for one that happened in an unusual place according to the USGS.

It's natural when you think of earthquakes in Missouri to automatically think of New Madrid. But, did you know that New Madrid isn't the Missouri city most likely to get rocked by a major quake? It is nearby though.

There are a lot of predictable things in Missouri, but earthquakes are unfortunately not one of them. It's worth noting that the New Madrid Fault Zone has been shaking a bit more than normal lately with more than a dozen quakes being recorded in the past 7 days.

The greatest concern along the New Madrid Fault is potential loss of life, but there's a financial cost to consider, too. A new estimate says the danger has doubled for states like Missouri and Illinois and all those along the New Madrid Fault Zone.

The New Madrid Fault area along Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois and Tennessee is a wildly unpredictable seismic area. It can be completely quiet for days then suddenly show activity. That happened over the past week as a mini-swarm of 9 quakes have been recorded.