Thunderbird and Whale
December 5, 2024 1:45 PM Subscribe
A 7.0 earthquake off the coast of Northern California has the North Pacific on Tsunami warning. The Juan de Fuca/Cascadia subduction zone is famous for 500 year tsunami events. Captured as far away as Japan, the last one in 1700 was preserved in local myth-histories (wiki), like that of Thunderbird & Whale (wiki)
Still getting significant aftershocks as far down as Clearlake, it looks like. Got the VERY LOUD tsunami alert on my phone in the Bay Area. All alerts and warnings now canceled. Same location as the big 1992 quakes up there.
posted by gingerbeer at 1:55 PM on December 5, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by gingerbeer at 1:55 PM on December 5, 2024 [2 favorites]
I appreciated all the early warnings I got for both the earthquake and the tsunami but damn they rattled me something good right before jumping into my 11am meeting!
posted by flamk at 1:55 PM on December 5, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by flamk at 1:55 PM on December 5, 2024 [1 favorite]
I’m in San Francisco. I was talking to a friend in Maine on the phone, she’s from here. Her phone started howling and she read earthquake alert to me. My phone was silent but then my apartment started to shake. For a long time. Turns out it was two quakes in separate areas a minute apart. Then my phone howled about tsunami alert, she heard that over the phone. Nothing happened of any importance but this weird 3000 mile technology connection was interesting.
posted by njohnson23 at 1:56 PM on December 5, 2024 [10 favorites]
posted by njohnson23 at 1:56 PM on December 5, 2024 [10 favorites]
I'm in southern Oregon, about 300 miles north of the epicenter, latitude 43 degrees, longitude 124, about 5 miles inland from the coast. We got 5 tsunami warnings in a row, but we didn't feel the earthquake here. Our town is next to the Umpqua River, which drains into the Pacific Ocean and many parts of it are below sea level, which led to our downtown and water-adjacent properties being ordered to evacuate for about 10 minutes before the tsunami warnings were cancelled.
posted by Lynsey at 2:03 PM on December 5, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by Lynsey at 2:03 PM on December 5, 2024 [2 favorites]
Oakland CA here. didn't feel a thing but got all the alerts and warnings. I geek out about this stuff pretty hard and have looked at the USGS earthquake map every day for years. this is the biggest quake I have seen in that area.
The modern history of understanding this Zone is quite fascinating and laid out very well in Full Rip 9.0 by Sandi Doughton.
The tale of the Orphan Tsunami is a very interesting piece of the puzzle.
A bullet was dodged today, but a reckoning is coming. the CSZ is due...
posted by supermedusa at 2:05 PM on December 5, 2024 [2 favorites]
The modern history of understanding this Zone is quite fascinating and laid out very well in Full Rip 9.0 by Sandi Doughton.
The tale of the Orphan Tsunami is a very interesting piece of the puzzle.
A bullet was dodged today, but a reckoning is coming. the CSZ is due...
posted by supermedusa at 2:05 PM on December 5, 2024 [2 favorites]
Far enough from the coast these days that I might have mistaken it for any number of things if it hadn’t been for the alert but scary when that number hits 7.0. Sounds so far like this one hasn’t turned out too badly, all things considered. Hope that is true.
posted by atoxyl at 2:09 PM on December 5, 2024
posted by atoxyl at 2:09 PM on December 5, 2024
The US Geologic Survey | Did You Feel It? also takes reports to build better impact models, whether you felt it or NOT helps them.
Anytime I feel this particular woozy heady feeling I head over there, and I think it’s always been a low level earthquake.
posted by rubatan at 2:11 PM on December 5, 2024 [1 favorite]
Anytime I feel this particular woozy heady feeling I head over there, and I think it’s always been a low level earthquake.
posted by rubatan at 2:11 PM on December 5, 2024 [1 favorite]
I'm in Petaluma, in the North Bay, and felt nothing whatsoever. But MAN were the "emergency notification" apps on my phone blowing up.
posted by Dr. Wu at 2:33 PM on December 5, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by Dr. Wu at 2:33 PM on December 5, 2024 [1 favorite]
Petaluma Valley is a tsunamis evac zone due to being part of the coastal floodplain, so it definitely makes sense to send the alerts there. Tsunamis are terrifying because you can feel nothing until the water goes out.
posted by Callisto Prime at 2:43 PM on December 5, 2024
posted by Callisto Prime at 2:43 PM on December 5, 2024
Bay Area subreddits around noon were a real surreal mix of "Hey wasn't the sky pretty this morning?" and "Hey should I be fleeing for my life right now?"
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 3:29 PM on December 5, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 3:29 PM on December 5, 2024 [2 favorites]
I don’t know how the hydrology of the bay works but I have a have a hard time imagining waves coming from the pacific having a big effect in Petaluma. Of course other types of storm surge would affect it. I have recently had coffee while watching kayakers along the Petaluma river.
I am Avery curious how SFO and OAK airports would fare if a real Taunami entered the bay.
San Diego’s airport is also right on the water
posted by CostcoCultist at 3:47 PM on December 5, 2024 [1 favorite]
I am Avery curious how SFO and OAK airports would fare if a real Taunami entered the bay.
San Diego’s airport is also right on the water
posted by CostcoCultist at 3:47 PM on December 5, 2024 [1 favorite]
> Bay Area subreddits around noon were a real surreal mix of "Hey wasn't the sky pretty this morning?" and "Hey should I be fleeing for my life right now?"
There was a tsunami warning during the 2006(?) NBA finals and I remember a "how far inland is far enough" discussion. I learned today that the city of Berkeley considers east of 7th to be "far enough". Twitter even existed during the 2006 NBA Finals (I think...) but clearly the city did not communicate this information to us then.
posted by hoyland at 5:23 PM on December 5, 2024 [1 favorite]
There was a tsunami warning during the 2006(?) NBA finals and I remember a "how far inland is far enough" discussion. I learned today that the city of Berkeley considers east of 7th to be "far enough". Twitter even existed during the 2006 NBA Finals (I think...) but clearly the city did not communicate this information to us then.
posted by hoyland at 5:23 PM on December 5, 2024 [1 favorite]
A close associate happened to literally be sitting in the final lecture of Seismology and Earthquakes today, so this was a perfect capstone event!
It looks like the quake hit in the Mendocino Fracture Zone, which is adjacent to, but just south of, the Cascadia Subduction zone.
Which is very good news for the tsunami risk. But they are close enough that our prediction tools really can’t be sure, hence the widely-distributed warning.
Obligatory cool link to detection of the wave as it propagates across the lower 48.
posted by graphweaver at 5:24 PM on December 5, 2024 [6 favorites]
It looks like the quake hit in the Mendocino Fracture Zone, which is adjacent to, but just south of, the Cascadia Subduction zone.
Which is very good news for the tsunami risk. But they are close enough that our prediction tools really can’t be sure, hence the widely-distributed warning.
Obligatory cool link to detection of the wave as it propagates across the lower 48.
posted by graphweaver at 5:24 PM on December 5, 2024 [6 favorites]
I’ve been in the Bay Area for 3ish months now and this was my first seismic experience. First the chorus of phones, then reading the words TSUNAMI WARNING was freaky. There’s still debate on whether the same tone was heard over the building’s emergency system speakers or if it was just the aggregate sound of all of the phones. Numerous coworkers felt the building shake (Foster City) but I didn’t. Made me realize that I need to have a disaster plan in place…
posted by photovox at 5:33 PM on December 5, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by photovox at 5:33 PM on December 5, 2024 [1 favorite]
People walk along the sand at Ocean Beach in San Francisco during a tsunami warning on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Emily Steinberger)Does no one see a problem with this?
posted by Senescence at 5:38 PM on December 5, 2024 [3 favorites]
I too saw it was the farthest northern tip of the San Andreas zone, south of the fracture zone. Then it’s “wait and see” if this is a 5% event that triggers something larger.
I don’t know how the hydrology of the bay works
If you’re visiting the Bay Area, you can go to the Army Corps of Engineers’ The Bay Model in Sausalito. You’re not going to see a tsunami, but I find the aging behemoth inspiring. It includes as far as Sacramento and the Central Valley.
Related to another current OP, funny enough Stewart Brand lives nearby.
posted by rubatan at 5:50 PM on December 5, 2024 [8 favorites]
I don’t know how the hydrology of the bay works
If you’re visiting the Bay Area, you can go to the Army Corps of Engineers’ The Bay Model in Sausalito. You’re not going to see a tsunami, but I find the aging behemoth inspiring. It includes as far as Sacramento and the Central Valley.
Related to another current OP, funny enough Stewart Brand lives nearby.
posted by rubatan at 5:50 PM on December 5, 2024 [8 favorites]
Ocean Beach… It’s basically always a dangerous place as it features rip currents that carry people out away from the beach where they panic and possibly drown. There are signs at the entrances warning about these dangers that say “People have died here.” A friend lives near a fire station that seems to have to send beach rescue trucks to Ocean Beach every day. Water problems and people falling off cliffs. San Francisco has a disaster warning system with loudspeakers that was turned off years ago for repairs and it’s still off. That would have warned the people on the beach today without cell phone warning apps. But silence….
posted by njohnson23 at 6:03 PM on December 5, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by njohnson23 at 6:03 PM on December 5, 2024 [2 favorites]
Curiously I was in Pacifica yesterday morning right as the monthly tsunami siren test was performed. I can report they worked fine. I presume they were set off today.
posted by graphweaver at 6:10 PM on December 5, 2024
posted by graphweaver at 6:10 PM on December 5, 2024
Oakland here. We decided to get to higher ground and just as we were merging onto the 24 to climb up to Montclair for lunch, they sounded the all-clear. We went home and had leftovers instead.
posted by turbowombat at 8:44 PM on December 5, 2024 [2 favorites]
posted by turbowombat at 8:44 PM on December 5, 2024 [2 favorites]
Also Oakland! I biked up to Piedmont from the flats, but stuck around and had lunch anyway when it was called off.
posted by kaibutsu at 8:23 AM on December 6, 2024
posted by kaibutsu at 8:23 AM on December 6, 2024
Someone posted the link to the Noyo Harbor webcam which I thought was a good idea. I didn't see the tsunami, which, according to one amateur online post digging through the data, probably was around 10cm high.
posted by user92371 at 11:35 AM on December 6, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by user92371 at 11:35 AM on December 6, 2024 [1 favorite]
What would really happen if a tsunami hit the Bay Area?
Short answer: real tsunamis have hit the bay, so we don't need to speculate much. A computer model shows that a wave that squeezes through the Golden Gate dissipates really fast in the huge bay. In contrast, Crescent City is in an unfortunate location.
posted by polecat at 1:09 PM on December 6, 2024 [2 favorites]
Short answer: real tsunamis have hit the bay, so we don't need to speculate much. A computer model shows that a wave that squeezes through the Golden Gate dissipates really fast in the huge bay. In contrast, Crescent City is in an unfortunate location.
posted by polecat at 1:09 PM on December 6, 2024 [2 favorites]
In the Eureka/Arcata area, sixty-one miles from the epicenter, visiting family. Really felt this one and at least one of the aftershocks. I have grown up and lived in Pacific earthquake country my whole life, and what I felt was like a 4.1, or so. The warnings hit my and my mother's phones just as the waves started shaking the house. My step-granddad was in a car and didn't notice anything. I'm still worried about what kind of aftershocks might still happen.
posted by Ignorantsavage at 5:58 PM on December 6, 2024 [1 favorite]
posted by Ignorantsavage at 5:58 PM on December 6, 2024 [1 favorite]
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