What Was That Shaking In Northern Arizona??

I'm from the east coast, if you couldn't tell. The most major natural disaster we were accustomed to were the hurricanes that rolled through the Sunshine State once a year, but that's about it.

All that to say, earthquakes being a common occurrence here on the west coast has shocked me. I thought, however, that I'd be mostly safe in the Grand Canyon State, I'd never heard of one here. Boy how wrong I was.

Does Arizona Get Earthquakes?

The short answer is: Yes, of course we do! They may not be the massive, destructive forces we see on the San Andreas Fault, but Arizona experiences hundreds, if not thousands, of earthquakes a year.

Most of these earthquakes are so small, we don't even notice, but The University of Arizona Survey Department has measured that every five to ten years, Arizona experiences the right conditions for something more destructive. Seems that time's finally run out.

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Arizona's 2025 Earthquake

Must've been five to ten years since the last one, because on the morning of March 3rd, 2025, Arizona saw it's latest "major" earthquake. It struck the northern portion of the state, just seven miles south of Tuba City, in the Hopi reservation.

The quake itself registered as a 3.4 on the Richter scale, and took place just five and a half miles underground. There is no confirmation that any destruction has been caused, and we send our thoughts to the communities affected by this. Luckily, we should have another decade before something like this happens again.

[ABC 15][University of Arizona Geological Survey]