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Witness an earthquake simulation at the Nevada Seismological Lab.
Jason Bean Sam Gross
A small earthquake rattled windows and nerves Thursday night in metro Detroit.
The 3.6-magnitude quake struck at 8:01 p.m. and was centered near Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada, according to the United States Geological Survey. Amherstburg is about 20 miles from downtown Detroit.
“They happen from time to time, right in that magnitude” in the region, said David Gurney, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in White Lake. “They are rare, but not unheard of.”
There were no immediate reports of damage.
In Taylor, Jeff Ward, 58, was on his couch watching TV when the ground started shaking.
“This was kind of like a rumbling,” he said. “I live close to I-94, so I thought it was a truck maybe on 94, but then it kept going, and the house started shaking.”
Ward said he wondered initially whether the shaking was caused by a meteor like the one that exploded across the sky back in January.
Social media quickly erupted with comments about the earthquake.
“Never thought I’d experience my first earthquake in Michigan!” Twitter user @ashleyyymc1 wrote.
Another Twitter user, @cole_hinzmann, said: “Just when you thought Michigan’s weather couldn’t get any worse, boom, earthquake.”
Ian Lee, National Weather Service meteorologist, said about an hour after the quake that the agency hadn’t received any reports of damage.
Thursday’s quake was the latest in a series of small tremors to hit the Mitten State in recent years.
On May 2, 2015, there was a magnitude-4.2 earthquake with an epicenter about 5 miles south of Galesburg, or 9 miles southeast of Kalamazoo. It was widely felt across lower Michigan, northern Indiana, northwestern Ohio, even into Illinois, Wisconsin and Ontario.
It was recorded as the strongest quake in Michigan in more than 67 years.
Just weeks later on June 30, 2015, another quake — this one a 3.3 magnitude — struck 13 miles southeast of Battle Creek.
In 2011, an earthquake with an epicenter in Virginia caused the upper floors of the Renaissance Center in Detroit to sway.
We’re hearing reports of some Metro Detroiters feeling an earthquake. Anyone else feel it? Where from?
— Detroit Free Press (@freep) April 20, 2018
Anyone else on the east side of Detroit/Grosse Pointe just feel/hear something weird? An explosion or earthquake?
— Susan Rose (@susanrose516) April 20, 2018
Never thought I’d experience an Earthquake in Michigan
— Braydon Marcissuk (@Braydon_m25) April 20, 2018
Um am I the only one that felt that EARTHQUAKE??? In Michigan???
— Lex ☀️ (@Alexiabates02) April 20, 2018
Contact Ann Zaniewski: 313-222-6594 or azaniewski@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @AnnZaniewski.