SARATOGA SPRINGS — Preliminary data shows a 3.5-magnitude earthquake hit Utah County Thursday afternoon.
The quake hit about 12:53 p.m.; the epicenter of the rumble happened about 4 miles west-northwest of Saratoga Springs, and the depth of the quake was estimated to be about 3.4 miles, according to information from the University of Utah Seismograph website.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s website shows the quake was initially rated a 3.4 magnitude before it was increased to 3.5.
Kate Millward was on the fifth floor of an office building in Lehi when she felt the quake. She said it was obvious an earthquake was occurring, but it wasn’t intense enough for anything in the office to move. The mild shaking lasted about 10 seconds, she said.
“Definitely the most intense one I’ve ever felt,” she said.
Hallie Jenks was also working in one-story office building near Center Street in Lehi when she felt the quake.
“It felt like someone hit the building,” she said.
Kaitlynn Resse, who works at the same office, said she was inside her car on a lunch break at the time of the rumble.
“It felt like someone pushed up against (my) car,” she said.
University of Utah seismograph stations said the quake was “widely felt” across the Wasatch Front. They added that since 1981, their seismologists have located 70 magnitude-2 or greater earthquakes within 15 miles of the epicenter of Thursday’s quake, the largest being a 4.2 magnitude earthquake more than 30 years ago on March 16, 1992.
Exactly two weeks ago, people from Logan to Provo reported feeling an earthquake on Jan. 22. The epicenter of the 4.7-magnitude earthquake was about 25 miles south of Evanston, Wyoming, according to the United States Geological Survey.
Officials in both Lehi and Saratoga Springs said as of Thursday, no damage was reported within their cities.
Expert weighs in
Emily Morton, a research scientist with the University of Utah Seismograph Stations said the quake was northwest of Lehi and Saratoga Springs, about 7 kilometers deep, which is pretty average. But people as far north as Davis County also felt it.
“It was felt pretty extensively. Just looking at all the reports across the valley, as far north as Layton and as far south as Payson.”
While residents in northwest Utah County seemed to feel it the most, more than 2,500 people reached out to KSL saying they felt a rumble and a shake.
“My dogs started freaking out, and next thing I know my house was shaking and I was like, ‘Oh boy,” said Chris, who called KSL from Saratoga Springs. “I’ve been though a few quakes before here in Utah including the big 5.7 one that happened in Salt Lake a few years ago, and this felt right along those lines.”
Some wondered if Thursday’s quake was linked to a 4.7-magnitude quake that struck two weeks ago, but Morton said the two tremors were on different fault lines. Morton explained that smaller aftershocks could be possible, but they do not anticipate anything else of that magnitude.
“There’s always a small chance that this could lead to a bigger earthquake in this same fault system, the Wasatch fault system, but chances are it’ll probably be a couple small aftershocks.”
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
