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An estimated 7.0-magnitude earthquake was reported off the coast of Humboldt County on Thursday morning, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a tsunami warning for coastal parts of the Bay Area. The warning was canceled at around noon, according to the NWS.
“The tsunami Warning is canceled for the coastal areas of California and Oregon. No tsunami danger presently exists for this area,” the agency posted on X. “This will be the final U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center message for this event. Refer to http://tsunami.gov for more information.”
The 7.0 quake at 10:44 a.m. was followed by an estimated 5.8-magnitude quake a few minutes later near Cobb in Lake County, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The tsunami warning issued by the weather service was in effect from the area of Davenport in Santa Cruz County up into Oregon. At around 11:30 a.m., meteorologists from the NWS were awaiting updates on wave predictions and observations, but none had arrived.
The NWS had said the brunt of any tsunami activity was expected to hit the San Francisco area at around 12:10 p.m., but come noon, the alert was canceled.
Dalton Behringer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, confirmed that the tsunami warning was issued based on information from the Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska, but has now been canceled. He went on to say that no significant tsunami activity occurred, although it’s possible that buoys and sensitive instruments may have seen slight variations, but not at a level a person would notice.
He added that based on what’s known at this point, it doesn’t appear that the earthquake was the type that would cause a large tsunami. He said that the quake’s movement appeared to be side-to-side, rather than thrusting upwards.
Anyone within the tsunami warning area, which included the Peninsula and East Bay, was told evacuate away from tsunami hazard zones or to upper floors of buildings near the coast, the NWS warning stated. That had an immediate effect across the Bay Area, as transit agencies canceled trains, the San Francisco Zoo evacuated and schools on the Coastside began initiating tsunami protocols. Palo Alto officials said there did not appear to be any immediate safety concerns in the city and no evacuations were necessary.
BART was holding trains outside of the Transbay Tube and clearing trains out of underground stations in San Francisco and on the Peninsula, according to social media posts from the transit agency. BART policy is to resume train service once it is deemed safe, the agency says.
“Move out of the water, off the beach, and away from harbors, marinas, breakwaters, bays and inlets,” the warning stated. The NWS also warned against going toward shore to observe a tsunami when a warning is issued.
During tsunami warnings, people located in coastal areas should move to higher ground, away from beaches, harbors and marinas, reiterated Charles Harris, the spokesperson for the Santa Clara County Office of Emergency Management. People should not go towards the coast to watch a potential tsunami, Harris added. He encouraged people to sign up for Alert SCC at alertscc.org, to get any updates from the county.
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