BRINNON— A small earthquake that shook the homes of residents in south Jefferson County was one of three reported by the U.S. Geological Survey in Western Washington.
Three earthquakes, all under a magnitude 3, were recorded by the USGS between 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Thursday night.
The first quake, a magnitude 2.6, was centered around Burley and documented by the USGS at 4:15 p.m. The second, and the largest at magnitude 2.9, was centered 3 miles from Orting and recorded at 5:59 p.m.
The final quake, a magnitude 2.8, was recorded at 6:28 p.m. Thursday night roughly 4 miles from Silverdale, along Seabeck Highway, according to the USGS. That final quake was felt by south Jefferson County residents in Quilcene and Brinnon.
“I was sitting at the dining table and something just bumped,” said Nicki Wiley of Brinnon. “No one else in my house noticed. It was just one big boom, so it was over real quick.”
On Facebook, other residents of Brinnon and Quilcene felt the quake or noted that their pets had acted strangely at the time.
The USGS tracks reports of quakes through its website and so far had a least one report of someone feeling a quake as far away at Port Ludlow and even one report from someone in Seattle.
Earlier on Thursday morning, just after 2:30 a.m., the USGS also recorded a small quake just north of Olympia, 5 miles from Allyn-Grapeview.
Before these quakes were recorded, the most recent quake felt on the Olympic Peninsula was a magnitude 2.7 quake that was felt in Port Townsend on Oct. 21.
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 55052, or at [email protected].
