The March 31, 1952 earthquake
M5.5Western Montana
A magnitude 5.5 earthquake, centred in Flathead County. The 12th strongest in Montana’s record since 1900, and the strongest within 50 miles in the catalogue, which runs from 1900.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.5
- as reported (fa)
- Depth
- —
- Not recorded
- Local time
- Monday, March 31, 1952
- 17:37 MST; 00:37 UTC on Apr 1, 1952
- In Montana’s record
- 12th
- strongest of 1,459 since 1900
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, event ushis1774 (“Western Montana”). 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
- Flathead CountyMT · inside
- Lake CountyMT · 1.4 mi
- Missoula CountyMT · 28.5 mi
- Pondera CountyMT · 28.8 mi
- Glacier CountyMT · 29.9 mi
- Powell CountyMT · 31.7 mi
- Lewis and Clark CountyMT · 33.5 mi
- Sanders CountyMT · 37.0 mi
- Teton CountyMT · 37.4 mi
Cities, largest first
- KalispellMT · 28.6 mi
Earthquakes around the epicentre
74 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more within 50 miles of this epicentre since 1973.
No earlier earthquake of magnitude 5 or more within 50 miles in the catalogue since 1900.
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog. Local time is the time zone of the county nearest the epicentre. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them.