Light magnitude 3.3 earthquake at 17 km depth
15 Aug 16:45 UTC: First to report: USGS after 2 minutes.15 Aug 18:34: Magnitude recalculated from 3.5 to 3.3. Hypocenter depth recalculated from 16.34 to 17.34 km (from 10.2 to 10.8 mi).
An earthquake of magnitude 3.5 occurred only 14 minutes ago 11 miles southeast of Hemet, California, United States, the United States Geological Survey reported.The quake hit at a shallow depth of 10.2 miles beneath the epicenter near Hemet, Riverside County, California, USA, in the morning on Friday, August 15th, 2025, at 9:43 am local time. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report.Our monitoring service identified a second report from The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) which listed the quake at magnitude 3.1.Towns or cities near the epicenter where the quake might have been felt as very weak shaking include Mountain Center (pop. 63) located 5 miles from the epicenter, East Hemet (pop. 17,400) 9 miles away, Hemet (pop. 83,900) 11 miles away, San Jacinto (pop. 47,000) 12 miles away, Palm Springs (pop. 47,400) 18 miles away, Menifee (pop. 87,200) 20 miles away, Temecula (pop. 110,000) 24 miles away, and Murrieta (pop. 109,800) 25 miles away. In Riverside (pop. 322,400, 39 miles away), the quake was probably not felt.
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Earthquake details
Date & time | Aug 15, 2025 16:43:29 UTC - 3 weeks ago |
Local time at epicenter | Friday, Aug 15, 2025, at 09:43 am (America/Los Angeles GMT -7) |
Status | confirmed (manually revised) |
Quality | 130 seismic stations |
Shaking intensity | III Weak shaking near epicenter |
Felt | 21 reports |
Weather at epicenter at time of quake | Clear Sky 26.2°C (79 F), humidity: 29%, wind: 3 m/s (6 kts) from W |
Estimated seismic energy released | 5.6 x 109 joules (1.56 megawatt hours, equivalent to 1.34 tons of TNT) | equivalent to ONE quake of magnitude 3.3 | about seismic energy |
Ground shaking from this quake
Nearby places
The closest larger town where the quake might have been felt is Temecula, a city with more than 110,000 inhabitants in the United States, in 38 km (24 mi) distance southwest of the epicenter. People likely experienced very weak shaking there. Many smaller towns and villages are located closer to the epicenter and might have experienced stronger shaking.The following table shows some of the places that might have been affected (or not) by the shaking.
Place | Max. shaking intensity(*) | Country |
User-reports for this quake (26)
We received 26 reports for this quake from the United States. Out of these, 21 people indicated they felt it. The quake was reported to have been felt in up to approx. 40–110 km (25–68 mi) distance.
The majority of reports came from Hemet (4 reports), a town with 84,000 inhabitants in California in 17.9 km (11 mi) distance northwest of the epicenter, United States, San Jacinto (2 reports), a town with 47,000 inhabitants in 19 km (12 mi) distance northwest of the epicenter, and East Hemet (2 reports) (14.7 km or 9 mi to the northwest). See the list of places where most people reported this quake further below.
Translate
San Diego (112 km SSW of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Standing in my hotel room at the Westgate Hotel in San Diego and I just got very disoriented and I could feel the building seemingly sway from side to side. I went down to get ice and came back and felt it again.
near East Hemet, Riverside, California (12.2 km SW of epicenter) [Map] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) (reported through our app)
Rubidoux, Riverside, California (63.5 km WNW of epicenter) [Map] / not felt (reported through our app)
Palm Desert, Riverside, California (36.5 km E of epicenter) [Map] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) (reported through our app)
La Quinta, Riverside, California (50 km E of epicenter) [Map] / not felt (reported through our app)
Riverside, California (65.6 km WNW of epicenter) [Map] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) (reported through our app)
Winchester (32.6 km W of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 15-20 s
Hemet, Riverside, California (17.3 km WNW of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s
Hemet (700 km NW of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s
Palm Springs (139.8 km WNW of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging
East Hemet, Riverside, California (16 km WNW of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) (reported through our app)
Anza, Riverside, California (9.2 km SSE of epicenter) [Map] / Weak shaking (MMI III)
fontucky (75.7 km WNW of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) (reported through our app)
hemet (17.9 km WNW of epicenter) [Map] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / very short
Cherry Valley, Riverside, California (36.1 km NNW of epicenter) [Map] / not felt (reported through our app)
Yucaipa (45.7 km NNW of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s
San Jacinto, Riverside, California (18.9 km NW of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) (reported through our app)
Riverside, California (64.6 km WNW of epicenter) [Map] / not felt (reported through our app)
Calimesa, Riverside (39.7 km NW of epicenter) [Map] / not felt (reported through our app)
Place | Distance from epicenter | Average reported Shaking Intensity | Nr. of reports |
---|
Hemet, California, United States | 17.9 km (11 mi) | III: Weak shaking | 4 |
San Jacinto, California, United States | 19 km (12 mi) | III: Weak shaking | 2 |
Yucaipa, California, United States | 46 km (28 mi) | IV: Light shaking | 1 |
Beaumont, California, United States | 33 km (20 mi) | II: Very weak shaking | 1 |
The amount of shaking that occurs on the surface due to an earthquake is called the intensity. It is commonly measured on the so-called Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (MMI) ranging from 1 (not felt) to 10 (extreme shaking), and given in Roman numerals as I,II,...IX, X, and often displayed with color codes ranging from light blue to dark red.Earthquake intensity depends mainly on the magnitude and depth of the quake as well as the distance from the epicenter: The further away, the less shaking intensity occurs.Read more about the MMI scale!
Shaking intensity | Number of reports | Min-Max distance from epicenter (*) | Average distance (*) |
---|
I: Not felt | 5 | 36–65 km (22–40 mi) | 51 km (32 mi) |
II: Very weak shaking | 8 | 12.2–107 km (7.6–67 mi) | 43 km (27 mi) |
III: Weak shaking | 3 | 9.2–19.6 km (5.7–12.2 mi) | 15.4 km (10 mi) |
IV: Light shaking | 4 | 16–46 km (9.9–28 mi) | 28 km (18 mi) |
Compare Quake Data
The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision.
Mag | Depth | Time GMT2025-08-15 | Epicenter | Agency |
3.33 ± 0.13 | 17 km10.8 mi±0.3 km | 16:43:29.1 | 10 km SW of Idyllwild, CAEpicenter uncertainty: ± 0.1 km | USGS (United States Geological Survey) |
3.1 | 17 km10.8 mi | 16:43:29 | SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA0 km (0 mi) epicenter difference with USGS | IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology) |
3.2 | 17 km10.7 mi | 16:43:29.1 | SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA0 km (0 mi) epicenter difference with USGSEpicenter uncertainty: ± 0.7 km | EMSC (European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre) |
Based on data from the past 55 years and our earthquake archive back to 1900, there are about 11,000 quakes on average per year in the area near the epicenter of this quake (within 100 km/61 mi):
The area where this quake occurred has a high level of seismic activity. It has had at least 10 quakes above magnitude 6 since 1900, which suggests that larger earthquakes of this size occur infrequently, probably on average approximately every 10 to 15 years.
Previous quakes in the same area of this earthquake
The earthquake occurred 9 days after a magnitude 3.6 earthquake had hit on Wednesday, Aug 6, 2025, at 02:00 am local time (America/Los Angeles GMT -7) in 95 km (59 mi) distance to the northwest: The largest quake near the epicenter of this quake during the 10 years before was an event of magnitude 7.1. It had occurred 6 years earlier, on Friday, Jul 5, 2019, at 08:19 pm local time (America/Los Angeles GMT -7) in California, United States: The strongest-ever (since 1900) recorded quake in this area measured magnitude 7.5. It had occurred 73 years ago earlier, on Monday, Jul 21, 1952, at 04:52 am local time (America/Los Angeles GMT -7) in California, United States: Below is a list and map of larger or recent quakes that had occurred near the epicenter before this earthquake (within up to 100 km/61 mi distance, up to 300 km/183 mi for very large quakes above mag. 7). Filter and sort the list by magnitude or time.
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Oldest quakes are shown in yellow, most recent in red.
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