Bonney Lake Earthquakes: Local Seismology Expert Weighs In

BONNEY LAKE, WA - Four small earthquakes have rumbled under Bonney Lake over the past three weeks. Does that mean a bigger one is on the way, or is it just a regular feature of life in the Pacific Northwest? Well, according to the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network (PNSN), it's the latter.

"They happen all the time," said Bill Steele, the PNSN's director of outreach. In other words, earthquakes are part of life in the Pacific Northwest. Steele said, historically, there haven't been any sizable quakes in the Bonney Lake area, and there aren't any active faults, either.

From time to time, spots around Western Washington will experience a swarm of quakes - although the Bonney Lake events don't even count as a "swarm," Steele said. For example, an small area east of Lake Stevens has experienced four small quakes since the end of March, with the largest being a magnitude 1.5. The top of Mt. Rainier also experiences earthquake swarms just about monthly.

The recent quakes in Bonney Lake were all below a magnitude 2.0, and are likely too small for anyone to have noticed them.

The first two quakes struck on March 28. The first quake was a magnitude 1.3 at a depth of over 9 miles detected just before 8 a.m. That quake was located at the edge of the plateau near 180th Drive East. The second quake was a magnitude 1.0 also at a depth of about 9 miles; that quake happened a short distance from the other one near the Lowe's store along Prairie Road East.

On April 5, two small quakes hit. The first one struck around 5 a.m. and was near 92nd Street east near SR 410. The second quake happened just before 6 p.m. near the intersection of Veterans Memorial Drive East and Main Street East. The first quake was a magnitude 1.5, the second a 1.4, according to the USGS.

Image via PNSN