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Small Earthquake Occurs Near Northern Westchester

Did you feel a small shaking of the earth on Monday around 6:35 p.m.?

A look at where the minor earthquake with a magnitude of 1.3 occurred Monday evening in Dutchess.

A look at where the minor earthquake with a magnitude of 1.3 occurred Monday evening in Dutchess.

Photo Credit: Lamont-Doherty Cooperative Seismographic Network

If so, you weren't imaging things. A small, magnitude 1.3 earthquake occurred at that time in Dutchess County, according to the Lamont-Doherty Cooperative Seismographic Network. 

The quake's epicenter, about 8.1 miles deep, was located 1.4 miles north-northwest of Holmes; 6 miles north of Lake Carmel, and 16.5 miles east of Beacon.

Most earthquakes under 2.5 magnitude aren't felt but can be recorded by a seismograph. About 900,000 earthquakes of less than 2.5 magnitudes occur each year.

"Small quakes are not uncommon all around the region – many are not even felt," said David Funkhouser of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. "Since the typical scale of measurement is logarithmic, quakes on the lower part of the scale are relatively minor."

Earthquakes have been recorded since colonial times in New York and the surrounding area and suffered damage from infrequent larger ones. New York City received damage from earthquakes in 1737 and 1884, according to the Lamont-Dorthey Cooperative Seismological Network at Columbia University.

Moderately damaging earthquakes strike somewhere in the urban corridor roughly twice a century, and smaller earthquakes are felt roughly every 2-3 years, they added.

If you did happen to feel the earthquake, officials with the USGS National Earthquake Information Center are asking residents to respond to a small survey to help map the impact.

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