View Full Version : An Earthquake in Chicago
DMBand0026
2004-06-28, 01:42
That's right folks. We just had an earthquake here in the Windy City. The epicenter was about 90 miles north of me in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
I felt my house start to shake, than 15-20 seconds later it was over. My first thought: WTF??? So I turned on the radio and sure enough no more than a few minutes later they broke in with a special news update that a place in Colorado (apparently a place that measures things like this) had confirmed that there had indeed been an earthquake near Chicago.
I survived an earthquake! Never thought I'd say that, but now I can. It' wasn't a big one at all, shook a picture off of a table and rattled the stuff hanging on the walls, but nothing bad by any means.
Anyone else near Chicago feel this? Anyone have any cool earthquake stories?
Hey, a 4.5. Not bad. :)
The quake map shows it here (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsUS/). I get quakesick when I visit other states..
DMBand0026
2004-06-28, 02:24
Hey, a 4.5. Not bad. :)
The quake map shows it here (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsUS/). I get quakesick when I visit other states..
Well that's certainly not Kenosha...haha. That looks like south of Aurora...Oswego or Montgomery area. As if this makes sense to anyone else, cept maybe superkaratiemonkeydeathcar. Maybe he or Oldmacfan can tell us if they felt anything.
thegelding
2004-06-28, 07:51
being born and raise in santa monica, i remember a few quakes...once i woke up with my dresser toppled over on my bed...another time one happened while we were at a drive in movie (yes i'm old)...the screen was wobbling back and forth...for a moment we worried it might fall down on the cars
g
You guys had cars back then :wow:
Ottawa is on a minor fault line, but we did not feel that one. There have been a few quakes that we have felt, however. I remember one in the early 80s that lasted for a long time – 30-45 seconds – and the reason that I remember it is the amount of noise that it made. I low deep rumble that came from all directions. The actual intensity of the shaking was pretty minor, compared with quakes elsewhere – just enough to knock a few loose things off the edge of tables – but it was still a bit scary. I’ve felt a few others here, but much shorter and much less noisy.
wow this one was close to ottawa....illinois!
i didn't feel it, when i was a kid (around 1968?) in galesburg, illinois we had a fairly large one (moved furniture) and i was in the car with my mom, she thought there was something wrong with the car. so i really didn't feel that one either, but i remember everyone say it could just be the beginning and we could have more, and what you should do (get under a doorway or a piece of heavy furniture) and i was anxious as hell for days.
Back in SA - not in earthquake country but close - I was in a 5'er. I have to say, it was not a BFD.
bassplayinMacFiend
2004-06-28, 09:23
I was 90 miles away from the epicenter for 3 earthquakes, a 6.0, 6.3 & 6.9. Being from the east coast, this freaked me out! I ran outside screaming earthquake, and it was over. All my Cali. friends couldn't stop laughing at me! :lol: I guess I'll have to drag them to the east coast the next time we get a big hurricane or something. :)
autodata
2004-06-28, 09:24
Didn't feel it, but then again the cats were bolting around and making noise all morning.
Windswept
2004-06-28, 11:07
24 quakes/aftershocks in one night.
http://forums.applenova.com/showthread.php?p=9340#post9340
Naderfan
2004-06-28, 13:31
Wow, I slept through an earthquake. I never thought, living in Milwaukee, that I could ever say that. :) I never felt a thing but according to the newspaper, other people did. Bummer, I can't believe I slept through it. Oh well
oldmacfan
2004-06-28, 16:13
I was awake when it happend, I was watching The Great Biker Build-off on Discovery Channel at the time. But I felt nothing.
From what I understand, where the quake was centered, there is no fault line, it is just the crust relieving pressure. The pressure was built-up during the last ice age, and now since there is no ice, the crust is expanding just a tiny bit.
Where I live in Mokena, is on a high and heavy ridge of bedrock. There is a fault line just to the south of my house that tends to follow Hickory Creek, it is a very minor fault line. Sorry I can't give you any other information
Wierd. I'm only about 35 miles from Kenosha at my workplace and I didn't even feel it.
oldmacfan
2004-06-28, 21:22
Wierd. I'm only about 35 miles from Kenosha at my workplace and I didn't even feel it.
It was centered just north of Ottowa, Illinois.
I felt this one up here in WI. (I live about 80 miles north of the epicenter.)
Wasn't too sure what happened, but would have thought it was a nearby auto accident or a large firework exploding at ground level, until I felt a secondary tremor.
I still can't get over the disbelief of an earthquake in WI. Especially after a brief tornado outbreak around here just a few days earlier.
craiger77
2004-07-01, 03:42
You can check the shake map (http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/shake/STORE/Xkgad_04/ciim_display.html) to see the quakes intensity over the surrounding area as reported by people who felt it.
I have felt many quakes, most in Japan and California when I was living in those places, but also a few in the Pacific Northwest where I live most of the time. The biggest one was a 7.1, but its epicenter was way out in the Mohave desert so not much impact. It did feel pretty strong in Long Beach where I was living at the time though. The swimming pool at the apartment where I lived started sloshing back and forth and lost about a foot of water over the sides.
That makes more sense, as there are actually large fault lines in the regions closer to Illinois / Missouri border I think. And I'm nowhere near there (roughly 120 miles by main highways) so it also makes sense that I didn't feel it. Anyone in Wisconsin is by definition even further away, so that's odd some would've felt it up thar. Last time I listen to that DMB kid for earthquake information!
;)
From my understand the epicenter was just outside of Troy Grove, IL. Based on Yahoo's map system, that placed the quake approximately 80 miles from my location. (I live right on the state line between IL and WI.)
DMBand0026
2004-07-02, 18:34
Anyone in Wisconsin is by definition even further away, so that's odd some would've felt it up thar. Last time I listen to that DMB kid for earthquake information!
;)
Hey now!!!
I was just reporting what I had heard on the radio right at that moment. They didn't confirm that it it had come from Ottowa until the next morning.
Don't shoot the messenger.
Quagmire
2004-07-02, 20:10
We had a 4.9. I survived an almost 5.0. Nothing much really. A little rattling but, nothing falling down and no cracks in the crust.
Who would have thought, huh?
I went to college in Milwaukee and spent many a weekend in Chicago partying (when I had time). Kenosha, huh? I would never have guessed that one.
Down here in St. Louis, we aren't all that far from the New Madrid fault line, the biggest and potentially most dangerous fault line in the lower 48 states.
I keep waiting for IT to hit, but so far I've been earthquake-free for 23 years now.
shylock
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