At 10:18 p.m. Saturday, a 3.0 magnitude earthquake was detected in the greater New York area. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) located the epicenter in Hasbrouck Heights, a borough of Bergen County, New Jersey. The quake originated about 10 kilometers below the surface within the bedrock, but a long, low-grade rumble registered as far as 62 miles in Connecticut.
In the immediate aftermath, local residents took to social media to see if they were the only ones who felt something weird. "Did anyone just feel a little rattle?" wrote one Nextdoor user from the Homefield neighborhood. "Almost like a small earthquake? Not saying it was one, but felt like a small one." Comment sections erupted under dozens of posts with anecdotes and descriptions corroborating the event.
Yonkers is situated along the New York - Philadelphia - Wilmington Urban Corridor, a region where seismic events are rare. According to USGS, "moderately damaging earthquakes strike somewhere in the urban corridor roughly twice a century" with smaller geological events like Saturday evening's quake occurring every two to three years.
On a scale of 1 to 10+, an earthquake with level 3 intensity is considered light and won't cause damage, though it may fray the nerves nonetheless. No need to worry about the ground splitting open and your home falling into a rift like in the movies. The closest plate boundaries to Yonkers are in the center of the Atlantic Ocean and in the Caribbean Sea.
If you sensed the quake you can contribute to citizen science data collection efforts by filling out a Felt Report. You'll be asked simple questions like what floor you were on, what sounds you heard or if any objects fell off the shelves or walls. This information helps scientists paint a picture of the impact. As of this writing there are 7825 responses.
