Strange Missouri Earthquake Late Sunday Night South of St. Louis

Something odd happened between St. Louis and Cape Girardeau, Missouri late Sunday night and no one even noticed it until now. A strange earthquake was reported in an area that I've never seen an earthquake recorded ever before.

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I found this earthquake doing my daily check of the USGS "shake page" showing the latest tremors across the country. It happened at 10:38 pm Sunday night, February 18, 2024. It was a 1.9 that no one reported feeling just to the northwest of Weingarten, Missouri.

There's zero reason for alarm, but I share it because even though it's a very minor quake that would do no damage, I can't recall seeing a New Madrid quake that far up the river in Missouri.

Zooming in, you can see this is not that far from Farmington, Missouri.

You might recall that this odd Missouri quake follows a swarm of 8 quakes last week that were all in the New Madrid 'strike zone'. I'm not trying to raise the alarm bells, but I do think it's interesting activity in Missouri that is different from the few little quakes you normally see every week near the Bootheel part of the state.

Let this be a reminder that the land we walk on every day in Missouri is active and a major quake in our lifetime is very possible (up to a 7.7 according to USGS). Know what you and/or your family would do in the event of a major earthquake and hope you never have to use that plan ever.