In areas that are prone to earthquakes, not really. This isn’t one of them, so it’s unusual and worth a report and determination of the source. A 4.0 at the epicenter would feel different farther depending on the material too - most of Florida wouldn’t transmit the energy well and slosh around a bit, unlike some bedrock that can carry the energy much farther. My real question would be if this is a natural cause, can there ever be a potential for seafloor movement that would power a tsunami (I don’t think so)? That would be far worse than the actual ground shaking for Florida coastline residents.
Pretty sure it’s all but impossible for anything to happen in the Gulf to cause a tsunami. It’s freaky flat around here, flattest state in the Union. And the Gulf ain’t much lower, at all. Simply no possibility of a rock slide going downhill. No hills.
There is a direct correlation between the earthquake’s magnitude and its depth in how we feel them. The deeper it is, which can occur as shallow as 8 miles (13 km) deep all the way to 316 miles (500 km) deep, the less we feel it.
So while a magnitude 4 is something most of us would normally sleep through on any given day (especially for those of us used to them), a shallow magnitude 4 would definitely knock over a tree (assuming it was above the epicenter).
Is anything below a 5 worth reporting on? Can a 4.9 even knock down a tree?
In areas that are prone to earthquakes, not really. This isn’t one of them, so it’s unusual and worth a report and determination of the source. A 4.0 at the epicenter would feel different farther depending on the material too - most of Florida wouldn’t transmit the energy well and slosh around a bit, unlike some bedrock that can carry the energy much farther. My real question would be if this is a natural cause, can there ever be a potential for seafloor movement that would power a tsunami (I don’t think so)? That would be far worse than the actual ground shaking for Florida coastline residents.
Pretty sure it’s all but impossible for anything to happen in the Gulf to cause a tsunami. It’s freaky flat around here, flattest state in the Union. And the Gulf ain’t much lower, at all. Simply no possibility of a rock slide going downhill. No hills.
That’s not how tsunamis work.
There’s some irony in that I was literally just reading this
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/katherine-hayhoe-climate-change-clean-energy-interview
There is a direct correlation between the earthquake’s magnitude and its depth in how we feel them. The deeper it is, which can occur as shallow as 8 miles (13 km) deep all the way to 316 miles (500 km) deep, the less we feel it.
So while a magnitude 4 is something most of us would normally sleep through on any given day (especially for those of us used to them), a shallow magnitude 4 would definitely knock over a tree (assuming it was above the epicenter).
edit, further reading: https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-magnitude-does-damage-begin-occur-earthquake
We had a 5.1 nearby the other day, and I don’t know if it made much national news.