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M 4.8 – 2024 Whitehouse Station, New Jersey Earthquake

earthquake.usgs.gov

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Re: M 4.8 – 2024 Whitehouse Station, New Jersey Earthquake

#331

Post by adolph »

IG_Semmelweiss wrote: post #313
jpalawaga wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From your stack overflow link: >"Feels like" is measured on seismic intensity scales such as the Mercalli scale. These measure the peak acceleration or velocity at a given point, or the damage done by the earthquake. Intensity is influenced by many things, such as the depth of the earthquake, the distance to the ruptured section of the fault, and the local surface material. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modified_Merc…

The Mercalli scale you cite is defined in roman numerals. The parent posted decimals. As you said, they are not the same thing.

Yes, the Roman geologists did not use decimals but fractions. "S···· or S∷ | Dextans, dextantis or decunx, decuncis" would be the equivalent of .8 since they used "a duodecimal rather than a decimal system for fractions."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_numerals

Re: M 4.8 – 2024 Whitehouse Station, New Jersey Earthquake

#332

Post by renewiltord »

ylyn wrote: post #308
renewiltord wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USGS shows it as 4.8 at 4.7 km https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/?currentFeatureI... The Belden quake is 4.4 at 7.8 km, and 4.2 at 5 km. It's a log scale so the Whitehouse quake is much larger, but the significance of the quake seems to be more than just these numbers because Belden quake is irrelevant (didn't make the news really). Sarupathar was a 5.8 (huge comparatively) at 10 km. Hualien was 5.1 at 15.9…

> Hualien was 5.1 at 15.9 km That's just an aftershock. The main quake was three days ago. M 7.4 according to USGS: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us7000m9g4... So for an earthquake that's almost 1000x as strong, you'd think it'd be talked about more.

Thank you! Yeah, a 7.4 is humongous. I did wonder about this because my wife's family reported quite intensive shaking and I've been in a 6-something before and that was quite disruptive. I can't imagine a 5.1 being that much.

Re: M 4.8 – 2024 Whitehouse Station, New Jersey Earthquake

#333

Post by q1w2 »

joecool1029 wrote: post #262

So since I live near epicenter, there's one thing that changed geographically very recently. Nearby round valley reservoir was being worked on for years, last fall they got the authorization to pump it back to full and it was told it might take years. Rainy asf winter though so it's pumped back almost full from already 66% to 92% now. I'm wondering if billions of gallons of water getting added nearby affected pressur…

Does anyone know if there's a real-time feed of Earthquakes somewhere? The USGS website doesn't post the Earthquakes until 10-15 minutes after it's over - which nullifies any type of automated warning for our data centers.

Re: M 4.8 – 2024 Whitehouse Station, New Jersey Earthquake

#334

Post by jb1991 »

dylan604 wrote: post #326
jb1991 wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you’re drawing the wrong conclusion from the post. There was no suggestion of tornadoes on the West Coast. It was a discussion of relatively isolated meteorological phenomena in the northeast corridor.

While not part of Tornado Alley, the west coast does get tornadoes. There was at least one when I lived there, and I think I heard about another within the past year (maybe two). The one when I lived there actually started as a waterspout and came across the beach near Santa Monica to be reclassified as a tornado.

I'm not sure how this thread got off on this tangent but I don't think there was ever any attempt to comment on whether there are or are not tornadoes on the west coast. The discussion was the lack of extreme events typical of the northeast.

Re: M 4.8 – 2024 Whitehouse Station, New Jersey Earthquake

#335

Post by q1w2 »

reddit_clone wrote: post #266
scrumper wrote: post #104

Felt that very strongly in southern Westchester county NY. Not like the 2011 earthquake I felt in NYC, which was kind of slow and made the building I was in sway violently; this was more like the vibrations from a huge truck passing nearby, but more intense. Loud and very unpleasant, about 15 seconds duration. Did not like that at all, am now inspecting all our services like gas and water for disruption, checking for…

>earthquake I felt in NYC I am getting anxious just thinking about this. With all those sky scrappers..

Sky scrappers are the safest buildings to be in during an Earthquake. The most dangerous are the oldest much smaller masonry multilevel buildings.

Re: M 4.8 – 2024 Whitehouse Station, New Jersey Earthquake

#336

Post by q1w2 »

pjsg wrote: post #7

I felt it in Mass -- I was working on the second floor. My wife was on the ground floor and didn't feel it. From our internal slack channel, this seems fairly common -- people on the ground floor don't feel it here in MA, but higher floors, they do feel it.

Strong vibrations in Westchester county

Re: M 4.8 – 2024 Whitehouse Station, New Jersey Earthquake

#338

Post by puzzledobserver »

q1w2 wrote: post #333
joecool1029 wrote: post #262

So since I live near epicenter, there's one thing that changed geographically very recently. Nearby round valley reservoir was being worked on for years, last fall they got the authorization to pump it back to full and it was told it might take years. Rainy asf winter though so it's pumped back almost full from already 66% to 92% now. I'm wondering if billions of gallons of water getting added nearby affected pressur…

Does anyone know if there's a real-time feed of Earthquakes somewhere? The USGS website doesn't post the Earthquakes until 10-15 minutes after it's over - which nullifies any type of automated warning for our data centers.

Curious: Why might data centers need earthquake warnings, and how might they prepare if given a few minutes or seconds of heads up?

Re: M 4.8 – 2024 Whitehouse Station, New Jersey Earthquake

#339

Post by MisterTea »

chasd00 wrote: post #310
MisterTea wrote: post #88

Holy shit what a ride! Sitting at home in my office in Ozone Park NYC and I hear what I think is a low flying plane coming in to JFK. Happens when weather is bad and they come in lower they can rattle my windows. But the intensity grew suddenly and my entire house was shaking and everything was rattling. At first I froze for a few seconds as I could not make sense of what I was experiencing - but it was clear this wa…

> At first I froze for a few seconds as I could not make sense of what I was experiencing i hate that feeling, a few weeks ago i was walking my dogs and surprised by a pitbill and some other mix that immediately attacked my two small dogs. It took like 5-10 seconds for me to even figure out what was happening and what to do about it.

Unless familiar with such situations you can't react to them - especially when it's a total surprise with violence or a threatening situation (like your house shaking). Next time we should be able to react faster because of these experiences.

Re: M 4.8 – 2024 Whitehouse Station, New Jersey Earthquake

#340

Post by whartung »

nostrademons wrote: post #111
jedberg wrote: post #82

For those of you who didn't grow up in earthquake country, some tips: DO NOT get into a doorway, that's a myth. It's not a terrible place to be if it's a doorless frame, but if there is a door, it's more likely you get injured from the door smacking you than the earthquake. DO get under a strong table. That's the safest place to be in a quake if it happens when you are indoors. If you're outside get as far away from…

The standard advice now taught in California schools is "Duck, cover, hold." Basically everything that parent poster said, but in a pithy 3-word aphorism you're more likely to remember.

Another hot tip.

The weak ones don’t prepare you for the strong ones.

I’ve been rocking and rolling in So Cal for decades. I’ve felt most of the major quakes that have made the news. I’ve seen stuff fall from my walls, transformers short out and explode. Felt rollers, thumpers, shakers.

We’ve had four of note at my house this year alone so far. One of them felt like it picked the house up and dropped it several inches.

Each time, they were never severe enough to get me to dive for anything. It’s just like that dinner scene in LA Story, where they just grab their glasses and carry on.

Then, you see videos of “real quakes”. Stuff out of movies. File cabinets sliding across the floor. Bookcases falling. Heavy things tossed like they weigh nothing, not to mention the larger damage.

Having been through my series of quakes, I can see they’re nothing like a major one. But, right now, my gumption when one shows up is wait and see. Perhaps not the best habit. But when you’re in bed at night, and a small roller hits and it feels like you just dropped a quarter in the slot to turn your bed on, hard to get motivated to get up and out and duck and cover.

Better just to roll over, say “it’s ok honey” to my wife, and go back to sleep.

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