Sykesville 2.0 Earthquake Felt In PA, NoVA; Confirmed By USGS

SYKESVILLE, MD — A 2.0 magnitude earthquake was recorded late Tuesday night near Sykesville in Carroll County, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The shaking was felt beyond Maryland into southern Pennsylvania and Northern Virginia.

The agency noted the quake at around 11:49 p.m. just over 2 miles from the town with a depth of around 3.1 miles.

According to the agency’s Did You Feel It site — which gathers user-submitted reports of earthquake intensity — more than 500 people felt the earthquake, with most reporting weak to light shaking.

The quake was most widely felt in Baltimore, Carroll, Howard and Anne Arundel counties, but reports of mild shaking were received from Frederick, Gaithersburg and Silver Spring. There was one report filed from Pennsylvania, and a few from Northern Virginia, including Reston.

Earthquakes happen when there is movement below the Earth's surface.

A 5.8-magnitude earthquake rattled Maryland on Aug. 23, 2011, sending people fleeing from their office buildings across the region wondering if a terrorist attack or something else had happened.

The temblor was the strongest earthquake ever recorded in Maryland and the strongest quake recorded east of the Rocky Mountains since 1944. The earthquake struck a few minutes before 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 23, with an epicenter in central Virginia.

Did you feel it? Tell us in the comments!