What is a hurriquake? Does Florida even get earthquakes?

C. A. Bridges, Daytona Beach News-Journal

August 21, 2023 at 9:42 AM·4 min read

On Sunday California had to one-up Florida by having a tropical storm and an earthquake at the same time. We get it, California, you're "extra."

Dubbed a "hurriquake" on social media, the 5.1 magnitude earthquake mildly rocked Southern California around the Ojai area as Tropical Storm Hilary was dumping rain across the region and flooding rivers. A series of aftershocks around 3.0 rattled Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, according to KABC-TV.

While Florida still remains the tropical weather king as far as California is concerned, is a hurriquake possible here?

Answer: Yes, but very, very, very unlikely.

‘Hurriquake’ is a new one for us, too.
— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) August 20, 2023

Why are there so many cars floating down the LA River basin?#HurricaneHillary #HurricaneHilary #Hurriquake pic.twitter.com/t7RPW4xXx3
— 🌈 Tess T. Eccles-Brown, PhD (@TTEcclesBrown) August 21, 2023

OMG they’re calling it a Hurriquake, I can’t…. pic.twitter.com/LZ7Jd79Vrx
— Rosie Memos (@almostjingo) August 21, 2023

Does Florida get earthquakes?

Yes, but very rarely. Florida ties North Dakota as the state with the fewest earthquakes per year. Between 1975 and 1995 the state was one of only four that recorded no earthquakes at all. (The others were Iowa, Wisconsin and North Dakota.)

Earthquakes are caused by sudden movement by tectonic plates that release energy in waves that travel through the earth's crust and cause shaking in the surface. Florida is not located near any tectonic plate boundaries. The closest fault line to Florida runs through the Caribbean Sea, just north of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and south of Cuba toward Guatemala.

But they do happen, often from earthquakes strong enough to affect us even if they're not close by.

Shaking Sunshine State: Does Florida, known for its storm threats, ever shake from earthquakes?

What was Florida's largest earthquake?

In 1879, the largest recorded earthquake in Florida measured in at a 4.4 magnitude on the border of Putnam and Marion County in North Central Florida. This is the only earthquake recorded over the peninsula on the USGS database. "Plaster was shaken down and articles were thrown from shelves at St. Augustine and, to the south, at Daytona Beach," according to U.S. Geological Survey records.

The largest earthquake to affect Florida was in 2006, a 5.9 earthquake in the Gulf of Mexico that rocked Southwest Florida and reportedly shook some buildings in Cape Coral, but caused no serious damage.

What other earthquakes have hit Florida?

Most earthquakes in our area are minor ones, magnitude 3 and under — "magnitude" is the relative size of an earthquake, on the Richter scale — that residents might notice as a little shaking. Some notable Florida quakes:

January 1880: Shocks from two strong earthquakes near Cuba struck Key West.
August 1886: The famous Charleston, South Carolina quake that killed 60 and damaged thousands of buildings was felt throughout northern Florida, ringing church bells in St. Augustine and shaking towns along the east coast.
November 1948: Captiva Island near Fort Myers was rattled and residents described hearing sounds like explosions in the distance.
November 1952: “On November 18, 1952, a slight tremor was felt by many at Quincy, a small town about 20 miles northwest of Tallahassee," U.S. Geological Survey records said. "Windows and doors rattled, but no serious effects were noted. One source notes, ‘The shock interfered with writing of a parking ticket.’ It didn’t say in what way.”
October 1997: A 4.8 quake just north-northwest of Flamaton, Alabama, was felt in Pensacola.
January 2014: A 5.1 quake happened just off the northern coast of Cuba that sent shock waves through Key West.
March 2019: The U.S. Geological Survey reported a magnitude 2.6 earthquake occurred in Santa Rosa County, just south of the Alabama border.
March 2019: Five earthquakes within a month were reported in Escambia County from the Flamaton, Alabama area.

Did the U.S. Navy cause an earthquake off the Daytona Beach coast?

A magnitude 3.7 earthquake was recorded off the Florida coast, about 100 miles east-northeast of Daytona Beach Shores, in July 2016.

But it was found to have been triggered by a manmade explosion designed to test the seaworthiness of a new U.S. Navy vessel, so it doesn't really count. A similar "quake" was reported by the Geological Survey on June 10, 156 nautical miles east-northeast of Ormond-by-the-Sea, the same day Navy reported conducting a shock trial on the USS Jackson.