Another Earthquake Near Mount Rainier, Seventh Since Saturday

EATONVILLE, WA - A seventh relatively strong quake hit just west of Mount Rainier early Friday morning. The magnitude 2.6 earthquake struck around 4 a.m. in a remote area west of the Mount Rainier National Park boundary and south of the Puyallup River. Thursday's quake follows a 2.9 (later downgraded to a 2.4) measured on Thursday afternoon.

There were three relatively large earthquakes in this same area late Sunday night, according to the PNSN. The three quakes were all above a magnitude 2, with the two strongest measuring 2.4 and 2.3. Two other quakes - a 2.1 and a 2.4 - hit in the same area last Saturday night and early Sunday morning.

Quakes in the magnitude 2 to 3 range are likely too small to feel, especially miles away in population centers like Enumclaw and Puyallup. But these are the largest recent quakes in Western Washington.

Patch.com has reached out to the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network to find out more about why these quakes are happening, and we will update this story if we learn more.

Seismologists have described similar activity in the region as normal for our area. The PNSN recently wrote about a swarm of quakes in the Entiat area in Eastern Washington. Since 1975, hundreds of quakes have been recorded in that area, but seismologists don't think the area is primed for a major event.

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