Did the Ground Move? Small Quake Shakes Central New York

Did You Feel it?

At 8:27 PM, the ground gave a quick little reminder that New York State is never as “geologically boring” as people like to think.

A magnitude 2.3 earthquake struck just north of Richmond, New York, on Wednesday, May 13, at a shallow depth of 3.9 km — enough to make a few people pause, glance around, and wonder if it was the house… or something else.

Not the first shake for New York

Before anyone panics, it’s worth remembering earthquakes aren’t exactly strangers to New York. In fact, more than 550 tremors have been recorded across the state’s history. Most are small, most are harmless — but they do tend to get people talking.

Go back far enough, and you’ll find a notable one in 1737, when a magnitude 5.2 quake shook New York City. It’s still one of the few events in the city’s history that actually caused damage.

Upstate has felt it too

Upstate communities know the story well. The Utica and Rome areas have seen smaller quakes over the years — including a 1.8 in Prospect (2013), a 1.9 in Barneveld (2015), and a 3.5 near Port Leyden back in 1980.

Northern New York, especially the Adirondacks, remains one of the more active seismic zones in the Northeast.

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History includes a 5.8-magnitude quake in Massena in 1944 that caused real damage, reminding everyone that stronger events are possible, even if rare.

Regional reminders

Other notable tremors include a 4.9 in Cornwall, Ontario, in 1983 and a 5.0 near Plattsburgh in 2002.

Compared to those, last night’s 2.3 was more of a “did you feel that?” moment than anything else.

Still, even small quakes tend to stick in people’s memory — especially when the ground moves just enough to make you look up from your phone and question reality for half a second.