2.9 magnitude earthquake recorded in Lake Michigan off coast of Chicago's northern suburbs
A 2.9 magnitude earthquake has been recorded in Lake Michigan off the coast of Chicago's northern suburbs Wednesday afternoon.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was recorded about 20 kilometers, or about 12.5 miles, off east-northeast of Kenilworth, Illinois at approximately 2:38 p.m.
USGS said there have been reports that the quake was felt in multiple north suburbs including Evanston, Deerfield, Kenilworth, and as far north as Waukegan. According to reports made in the USGS, reports of people feeling the earthquake have come from as far south as Chicago's South Side.
Preliminary data from the National Weather Service shows that another 2.9 magnitude earthquake was also reported on Aug. 2, 2024 and that today's quake may be one of only two reported in Lake Michigan in the last 100 years.
While the earthquake is notable for how rare it is, whether people felt it was more hit-or-miss.
Stephen Lewis was inside his Evanston home working on the third floor when he felt some rumbling. He said he didn't think much of it at first.
"I thought a truck might have went by and we were doing laundry and the laundry room is just below me," he said.
But when Lewis saw the news alerts about the earthquake, he realized that's what he'd felt. His husband, E. Patrick Johnson, who was working in the basement at the time didn't have a clue.
"It wasn't until my husband was like 'did you feel that earthquake?' And I am like 'what earthquake?'" Johnson said. "I felt nothing!"
Conner Schelle, Damian Anaya, Parker Lyon and Ethan Ortiz were all in the same room at Northwestern for a fraternity conference. Some of them felt the quake. Others didn't.
"[Damian and I] were sitting and we felt a weird rumble and we looked at each other and we were like 'did you feel that?'," Schell said. "And he was like 'yeah.' And we didn't immediately think it was an earthquake until we talked to you guys."
"I thought it was someone who fell or something upstairs, or something like that," said Lyon.
"I didn't feel anything," said Ortiz, "which I'm kind of sad, because I never felt an earthquake before."
Dr. Suzan Van Der Lee, a professor at Northwestern University and Earth scientist, said that while the Chicago area is not in an active earthquake zone or located on active fault lines, earthquakes do happen — on a much less frequent basis — in the middle of tectonic plates.
If there are fault lines under Lake Michigan, she said, they are hundreds of millions, if not billions, of years old. Aftershocks from the quake are possible, she said, but it's unlikely anyone will feel them as they will be much softer than the original event.
She said people on shore likely could have noticed the earthquake, as the "did you feel it?" reports indicate. She said so far she's seen reports of people feeling light shaking, which she said is in line with the magnitude of the quake and how far off shore it was. But people boating on the lake probably would have had no idea; there are enough waves in the water already that additional seismic waves wouldn't have made much of a difference.
And while earthquakes along fault lines in the Pacific Ocean often prompt tsunami watches or warnings, folks along the lakefront don't have to worry about that. Dr. Van Der Lee said it's possible there were changes of a centimeter or millimeter along the lakebed, but the earthquake was about 5 kilometers underground and it's unlikely the bottom of the lake moved, which is what's required for a tsunami.
There have not yet been reports of any damage. Area city halls and police departments said they did not get any calls or complaints related to the earthquake.