Hundreds of people report shaking in portions of North Carolina from an earthquake that struck there this morning. This seismic activity is not related to a mysterious event involving a private jet, Washington DC airspace, scrambled fighter jets, sonic booms, and a crash of that private jet in Virginia. According to USGS, at 6:09 am this morning, a magnitude 3.2 quake struck near West Canton, North Carolina west of the Asheville area in the western part of the state. The earthquake had a depth of 2 km.
Nearly 600 people used the “Did you feel it?” reporting tool on the USGS website to report they felt shaking in portions of North Carolina this morning. An earthquake also struck here on May 23 . The May 23 earthquake was weaker than todays; USGS rated it as a magnitude 2.6 event. Just weeks before that one, on May 12, there was also a magnitude 2.1 earthquake that originated near Pineville.
According to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, while North Carolina is no stranger to earthquakes, large, damaging earthquakes are rare. Large, damaging seismic events are rare and the few felt in North Carolina had epicenters outside of the state. Most quakes in North Carolina originate from the East Tennessee seismic zone to the west, the Charleston, South Carolina seismic zone to the south, or the Central Virginia seismic zone to the north. The most common and strongest earthquakes to strike the state have been in the western part along the Appalachian Mountains.
While people reported they felt the earthquake to USGS, there have been no reports of any damages or injuries from the weak seismic event.
The earthquake happened hours before a mysterious air disaster struck Virginia. A Cessna Citation private jet scheduled to land at Islip, Long Island missed its landing and flew on a due south west course, bringing it over restricted Washington, DC airspace. In a statement, North American Aerospace Defense Command, known as NORAD, said F-16 fighter aircraft were cent to intercept the plane and were unsuccessful in contacting the pilot. “The NORAD aircraft were authorized to travel at supersonic speeds and sonic boom may have been heard by residents of the region,” NORAD said. The boom was heard and felt over Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and the greater metro Washington, DC area. Flight tracking website FlightAware showed the plane turning slightly after the NORAD intercept and then plunged quickly into forested land in western Virginia well north and east of today’s earthquake epicenter. Neither event appears to be related.
