PLANETARY TREMORS: Magnitude 4.0 Earthquake Near Trinidad, Colorado - USGS! [MAPS + TECTONIC SUMMARY]

USGS earthquake location.

February 7, 2016 - COLORADO, UNITED STATES - The United States Geological Survey reported an earthquake with a magnitude of 4.0 near Trinidad Saturday afternoon.

The quake hit 26 miles west-southwest of Trinidad around 4:09 p.m., according to the USGS.

USGS shakemap intensity.

Time

1. 2016-02-06 23:09:10 (UTC)
2. 2016-02-06 18:09:10 (UTC-05:00) in your timezone
3. Times in other timezones

Nearby Cities

1. 42km (26mi) WSW of Trinidad, Colorado
2. 134km (83mi) SSW of Pueblo, Colorado
3. 142km (88mi) S of Pueblo West, Colorado
4. 152km (94mi) S of Canon City, Colorado
5. 177km (110mi) NNE of Santa Fe, New Mexico

- Denver Post.

Earthquakes in the Stable Continental Region

Natural Occurring Earthquake Activity
Most of North America east of the Rocky Mountains has infrequent earthquakes. Here and there earthquakes are more numerous, for example in the New Madrid seismic zone centered on southeastern Missouri, in the Charlevoix-Kamouraska seismic zone of eastern Quebec, in New England, in the New York - Philadelphia - Wilmington urban corridor, and elsewhere. However, most of the enormous region from the Rockies to the Atlantic can go years without an earthquake large enough to be felt, and several U.S. states have never reported a damaging earthquake.

Earthquakes east of the Rocky Mountains, although less frequent than in the West, are typically felt over a much broader region than earthquakes of similar magnitude in the west. East of the Rockies, an earthquake can be felt over an area more than ten times larger than a similar magnitude earthquake on the west coast. It would not be unusual for a magnitude 4.0 earthquake in eastern or central North America to be felt by a significant percentage of the population in many communities more than 100 km (60 mi) from its source. A magnitude 5.5 earthquake in eastern or central North America might be felt by much of the population out to more than 500 km (300 mi) from its source. Earthquakes east of the Rockies that are centered in populated areas and large enough to cause damage are, similarly, likely to cause damage out to greater distances than earthquakes of the same magnitude centered in western North America.

USGS seismic map.

Most earthquakes in North America east of the Rockies occur as faulting within bedrock, usually miles deep. Few earthquakes east of the Rockies, however, have been definitely linked to mapped geologic faults, in contrast to the situation at plate boundaries such as California's San Andreas fault system, where scientists can commonly use geologic evidence to identify a fault that has produced a large earthquake and that is likely to produce large future earthquakes. Scientists who study eastern and central North America earthquakes often work from the hypothesis that modern earthquakes occur as the result of slip on preexisting faults that were formed in earlier geologic eras and that have been reactivated under the current stress conditions. The bedrock of Eastern North America is, however, laced with faults that were active in earlier geologic eras, and few of these faults are known to have been active in the current geologic era. In most areas east of the Rockies, the likelihood of future damaging earthquakes is currently estimated from the frequencies and sizes of instrumentally recorded earthquakes or earthquakes documented in historical records.

USGS seismic hazard map.

Induced Seismicity
As is the case elsewhere in the world, there is evidence that some central and eastern North America earthquakes have been triggered or caused by human activities that have altered the stress conditions in earth's crust sufficiently to induce faulting. Activities that have induced felt earthquakes in some geologic environments have included impoundment of water behind dams, injection of fluid into the earth's crust, extraction of fluid or gas, and removal of rock in mining or quarrying operations. In much of eastern and central North America, the number of earthquakes suspected of having been induced is much smaller than the number of natural earthquakes, but in some regions, such as the south-central states of the U.S., a significant majority of recent earthquakes are thought by many seismologists to have been human-induced. Even within areas with many human-induced earthquakes, however, the activity that seems to induce seismicity at one location may be taking place at many other locations without inducing felt earthquakes. In addition, regions with frequent induced earthquakes may also be subject to damaging earthquakes that would have occurred independently of human activity. Making a strong scientific case for a causative link between a particular human activity and a particular sequence of earthquakes typically involves special studies devoted specifically to the question. Such investigations usually address the process by which the suspected triggering activity might have significantly altered stresses in the bedrock at the earthquake source, and they commonly address the ways in which the characteristics of the suspected human-triggered earthquakes differ from the characteristics of natural earthquakes in the region.

For More Information
Additional earthquake information for Colorado


- USGS.

FIRE IN THE SKY: "It Was Pretty Incredible,... Most Spectacular Fireball I've Ever Seen,... Lasted 10 Seconds,... It Had A Flaming Tail,... Long Trail,..." - Mysterious "Bright Green" Fireball Spotted Over Colorado!

Nate Hershey, a Colorado software engineer, shared a video of the Colorado Meteor that he caught on his dash cam on March 11, 2015.
Image: Nate Hershey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDNwt8NRmqI

March 11, 2015 - COLORADO, UNITED STATES - So it's true: The early bird gets the fireballs.

Coloradans who were up before the sun on Wednesday morning saw a "bright green" fireball soar across the sky before it burned out over the mountains.

More than 60 eyewitnesses filed sightings on the American Meteor Society's website.

Greg Moore, an analyst and contributor at Weather5280, told Mashable he was driving over the top of Vail pass, west of Denver, just before 6 a.m. local time when "a bright green fireball caught my eye."

The object had a "flaming tail with a long trail behind it," Moore said. "As it moved towards the far horizon it started to flame out, but even after the tail was gone a bright orange ball was still visible till it disappeared beyond the far mountain range."

"It was pretty incredible," he said.

Snapchat user Joel Jimenez sent Mashable video he caught from a Home Depot parking lot in Fort Collins.


WATCH: Meteor over Colorado - Video 1.

Brian Paulson, a software engineer, caught the fireball on his car's dash cam while driving about 15 miles north of Pueblo, Colorado. A second man caught it on his dash cam from Denver.


WATCH: Meteor over Colorado - Video 2.

Colorado resident Nate Hershey told Mashable he was getting his kids dressed on Wednesday morning and happened to look out the window when the object was streaking across the sky.

"The head was bright white, and it had a deep orange tail with what looked like sparks falling behind, moving very slowly for a meteor," he said.

"I had time to put my 1 year old down, grab my four year old, climb onto my bed and hold him up to the window for a few seconds before it faded," Hershey said. "At the end, the tail appeared to be an eerie green with a slight blue tint as it disappeared."

"I've seen a lot of meteors in my day but this must have been the most spectacular, lasting for what seemed like around 10 seconds," he said.

The fireball, which could have been a meteor, satellite debris or a warning shot from an alien warship, was first reported on Twitter.

Others reported seeing the fireball on 9News's Facebook page.

We've reached out to NASA to see what's up.

Did you see the fireball?  - Mashable.

ICE AGE NOW: Global Cooling Across The World - Sudden Plunge In Temperature By 55 Degrees in Colorado; 'It's Just Brutal'; 465 Flights Cancelled At Denver International Airport As City Gets Slammed With Spring Storm?!

April 09, 2013 - UNITED STATES - The storm that dumped snow across parts of the Rockies and northern Plains on Tuesday was expected to bring more severe weather on Wednesday.

The central and southern Plains areas were at risk for severe weather, according to the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center.

A man crosses the street during a winter storm that brought snow and a fast plunge in temperature overnight to downtown Denver on Tuesday.
Brennan Linsley / AP

Swaths of land from New Mexico to Wisconsin were under winter storm warnings,while parts of Utah were under blizzard warnings.

According to the National Weather Service, Oklahoma City and Wichita Falls, Texas, were at risk for tornadoes and possible hailstorms Tuesday night and into Wednesday.

Earlier Tuesday, blizzard warnings were in effect in Colorado, where the temperature plunged more than 50 degrees in less than 24 hours and the wind chill approached zero. Wyoming got more than a foot of snow.

The culprit is a deep dip in the jet stream that swung west and pulled arctic air far into the country. As it collides with warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, strong storms and tornadoes are possible in the Great Plains and Texas.

“It’s just brutal to be outside,” said Eric Fisher, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel.

WATCH: A big storm is moving across the US – on one side of the system it's snowy and windy with temperatures below average. Meanwhile, warm air in parts of the Midwest leaves the region bracing for tornadoes. The East Coast, however, experienced record-highs. Weather Channel meteorologist Mike Seidel reports from Aurora, Colo.

In Denver, the temperature plummeted from 71 degrees at 2 p.m. Monday to 16 degrees at 7 a.m. Tuesday, with a wind chill of 1. More than 250 flights were canceled into and out of Denver on Tuesday alone.

In Wyoming, authorities closed two stretches of interstate more than 100 miles long — I-25 between Cheyenne and Douglas and I-80 between Laramie and Rawlins. More than a foot of snow fell by midmorning in the city of Lander, and one town near the Nebraska state line reported 2-foot snow drifts.

Snow was also falling at midday Tuesday in Colorado, Utah, the Dakotas and Minnesota.

The calendar may say spring, but April is the second-snowiest month of the year in Denver. The city has averaged 9 inches in April since 1882, second only to the 11.5 inches it gets in an average March, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather pattern threatened to bring damaging wind, large hail and perhaps tornadoes to parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Iowa, and weaker storms later in the day in the Ohio Valley.

“We’re looking at the gamut today for severe weather,” Weather Channel meteorologist Kevin Roth said.

As the system moves east, severe storms are possible Wednesday across a boomerang-shaped swath of the country from the Texas Gulf Coast north through Indiana and into western Pennsylvania.

Severe storms could move into Georgia, West Virginia and the Carolinas on Thursday. - NBC News.

WATCH: Storm chasers move into Colorado just ahead of wild spring weather as others are fleeing. KUSA's Kevin Torres reports.

465 Flights Cancelled At Denver International Airport As City Gets Slammed With Spring Storm.

A storm that toppled trees, whipped up blinding dust storms and might have spawned some tornadoes brought blizzard conditions to parts of Colorado, where up to 20 inches of snow was possible in the mountains through Tuesday, April 9.

The storm has so far proved less potent than originally predicted in Colorado because a cold front has been lingering to the north. Wyoming has been hit harder, with over a foot falling in Lander.

Up to around 10 inches of snow had fallen in Colorado’s mountains by dawn. Another 5 to 10 inches was possible in some locations but final snowfall amounts would vary quite a bit, National Weather Service forecaster Jim Daniels said.

Up to a foot had been in expected in Denver but forecasters are now calling for around 5 inches.

The storm has canceled 465 flights at Denver International Airport and deicing was causing departing flights to be delayed by as much as a half hour.

Blizzard warnings are also in effect from south of Denver to the New Mexico line and in northwestern Colorado. Winds gusting up to 50 mph were expected there.

As the storm moved in Monday night, April 8, spotters reported two tornadoes near Akron in eastern Colorado.

Northern California was first to feel the lashing blasts of the storm Monday, which spread to the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys.

At least a dozen trees came down in San Francisco, police officer John Tozzini told KGO-TV, which reported that more than 20,000 utility customers lost power in the region. A swath of outages occurred across the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, the Sacramento Bee reported.

A tree smashed into a Sacramento home where four friends were playing bridge, but they didn’t stop playing their game Monday, according to KCRA.

Gusts topped 80 mph at some places in Southern California. The blustery system was being fueled by a cold front.

“It’s just a cold, really strong upper low,” said Carol Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard, Calif.

Whitecaps flecked the Pacific Ocean along the California coast, where gale warnings and small craft advisories were posted. Recreational boaters were warned to stay in port. Wind-driven swells slapped over the tops of breakwaters and turned waves into a churning froth under piers at points such as Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach on the Los Angeles County coast.

The wind turned small wildfires into big problems in some areas, including a blaze in Fillmore about 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles that burned two homes and forced the evacuation of 84 homes.

Blowing dust forced the closure of state Route 14 in the high desert Antelope Valley north of Los Angeles due to low visibility. Officer Michael Farrell said motorists who stopped on the road were hit from behind by other cars, but no major injuries were reported.

The power went out for more than 13,000 Southern Californians because of the winds and the weather.

The rush of air had an upside: California’s main power grid manager, the Independent System Operator, reported that turbines spinning within the ISO grid produced a record of 4,196 megawatts Sunday, April 7. The previous record was 3,944 megawatts on March 3.

In Arizona, gusty winds produced by a cold front enveloped Phoenix in a dusty haze and closed 34 miles of Interstate 40 in the northern part of the state for several hours Monday. At least four people were injured in a pileup when two semi-trucks jackknifed in a dust storm on I-10 in southern Arizona. The injuries were not life-threatening. - Lubbock Online.

Pueblo Harley Davidson Store Damaged By High Winds.

High wind literally blew apart the Outpost Harley Davidson store in Pueblo.  The City of Pueblo Fire Department responded to the Outpost at 5001 N. Elizabeth around 07:30 Tuesday morning.  An hour later, firefighters say they saw the front façade wall extending from the second floor through the roof tear away from the building.  Although employees were inside as the initial wind damage occurred, no injuries were reported.  Damage to the front of the structure is extensive. Wind gusts were reported by the National Weather Service station in Pueblo at up to 64 mph overnight and 62 mph at the time of the destruction. Sustained winds were over 40 mph.

The building is expected to be closed until repairs can be made. The 5000 block of North Elizabeth Street is also closed Tuesday morning between the La Quinta Inn and Kohl's department store.  The northbound and southbound lanes are closed due to debris flying from the building.Debris from the building is flying eastbound.  9NEWS partner KOAA says Pueblo Police Colorado State Patrol are monitoring the situation. The closure of I-25 is a possibility if the situation gets worse. - 9NEWS.

EXTREME WEATHER: Prolonged Winter - Blizzard Follows Weekend Warmth From Denver To Cheyenne To Rapid City; Strong Winds, Heavy Snowfall, Travel Disruptions!

April 08, 2013 - UNITED STATES - After a blast of weekend warmth, residents from Denver to Cheyenne to Rapid City may find it hard to believe that a blizzard is on the way.

The blizzard threatens to bring northeastern Colorado, southeastern Wyoming, western South Dakota and western Nebraska to a standstill Monday night through Tuesday.

Strong winds severely blowing around heavy snow will dramatically reduce visibility and make driving extremely difficult, if not impossible. Officials may be forced to close stretches of interstates 25, 70, 80, 76 and 90.

That is true even though the Front Range is in the midst of a mild stretch of weather, which has helped warm road surfaces, and the strength of the April sun. The snow will come down hard enough to overcome both obstacles.

Parents should prepare for school closures, while airline passengers will likely face cancellations and/or lengthy delays.

Cities in the path of the blizzard include Denver, Fort Collins and Sterling, Colo., Casper, Laramie and Cheyenne, Wyo., Scottsbluff and Chadron, Neb., and Rapid City, S.D.

Snowfall totals in and around these cities will approach or top a foot.

The blizzard is in the works despite the warm weekend that has unfolded across the Front Range. For many, the warmth will persist through Monday with temperatures set to soar back into the 60s across most of northeastern Colorado and western Nebraska.

This warmth will also help set the stage for another round of severe weather across the central and southern Plains later Monday.

Cold air plunging southward and interacting with the storm moving through the West is all that is needed for the blizzard to take shape.

The cold shot headed to Denver will be so intense that temperatures will plunge from the 60s at sunset Monday to the teens by daybreak Tuesday.

The difference in high temperatures from Monday to Tuesday will range from 20 to 40 degrees in Denver and elsewhere where the blizzard will howl.

A similar drop in temperatures will occur in Pueblo and Trinidad, Colo., despite these cities escaping the burying snow.

Before the blizzard unfolds in Denver, Cheyenne and Rapid City Monday night, accumulating snow will first push through Montana and North Dakota on Monday.

Then after the blizzard winds down Tuesday night, AccuWeather.com meteorologists will be monitoring the potential for the snow to shift eastward across the Upper Midwest.

The impending blizzard is not entirely bad news for the Front Range. Runoff from the snow, which will quickly melt once milder air arrives later in the week, will bring needed moisture to the region's parched soil.

Much of the Front Range is currently suffering from an extreme to exceptional drought, according to the latest report from the United States Drought Monitor. - AccuWeather.