The January 23, 1920 earthquake
M5.5near Point Roberts, Washington
A magnitude 5.5 earthquake, 1.6 miles off San Juan County. The 11th strongest in Washington’s record since 1900, and the strongest within 50 miles since a magnitude 6.0 on January 11, 1909.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.5
- local magnitude (ml)
- Depth
- —
- Not recorded
- Local time
- Friday, January 23, 1920
- 23:09 PST; 07:09 UTC on Jan 24, 1920
- In Washington’s record
- 11th
- strongest of 5,002 since 1900
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, event ushis657 (“21 km SSE of Point Roberts, Washington”). The USGS event page carries the ShakeMap, felt reports and the official summary.
Counties and cities within 50 miles
Distance from the epicentre to each county boundary (zero when inside) and to each city centre.
Counties
- San Juan CountyWA · 1.6 mi
- Whatcom CountyWA · 11.4 mi
- Skagit CountyWA · 18.5 mi
- Island CountyWA · 31.5 mi
- Clallam CountyWA · 42.8 mi
- Snohomish CountyWA · 45.0 mi
- Jefferson CountyWA · 46.2 mi
Cities, largest first
- BellinghamWA · 24.3 mi
- Mount VernonWA · 41.1 mi
- Oak HarborWA · 38.9 mi
- AnacortesWA · 27.5 mi
- FerndaleWA · 19.0 mi
- LyndenWA · 26.9 mi
- Sedro-WoolleyWA · 40.3 mi
- BurlingtonWA · 38.3 mi
- Port TownsendWA · 47.9 mi
Earthquakes around the epicentre
119 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more within 50 miles of this epicentre since 1973.
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog. Local time is the time zone of the county nearest the epicentre. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them.