4.1-magnitude quake near San Diego rattles Southern California

A 4.1-magnitude earthquake shook Southern California near San Diego on Sunday, Jan. 30, the U.S. Geological Survey reports.

The 8-mile deep quake hit near Palomar Observatory about 60 miles northeast of San Diego at 9:46 a.m. Pacific time, according to the USGS.

Nearly 5,000 people from as far away as Los Angeles and Arizona reported feeling the tremor to the agency.

“People in SoCal rushing to Twitter to check if that lil jolt was an earthquake,” read one Twitter post with a video of a crowd of running people.

“We felt an earthquake here at NWS San Diego — it looks like the preliminary estimate is 4.1 near Palomar Mountain. There were 2 main jolts with a rapid shaking,” the National Weather Service office in San Diego reported on Twitter.

Magnitude measures the energy released at the source of the earthquake, the U.S. Geological Survey says. It replaces the old Richter scale.

Quakes between 2.5 and 5.4 magnitude are often felt but rarely cause much damage, according to Michigan Tech. Quakes below 2.5 magnitude are seldom felt by most people.

This story was originally published January 30, 2022 at 11:22 AM.