Earthquakes in the area!

Residents of North Texas experienced earthquakes on Saturday, May 16, 2009, but some may have just thought it was a thunderstorm according to Mitch Mitchell, reporter for the Fort Worth Star Telegram. He noted that no damage or injuries were reported.

A 3.3-magnitude earthquake at 11:24 a.m. (event ID us2009gsba) and a second one measured at 2.0 at 1:02 p.m. (event ID us2009gsbh) were both centered about four miles south of Euless, at 32.796 degrees north and 97.091 degrees west according to the USGS Earthquake Center.

The Dallas Morning News reported that National Weather Service meteorologist Jesse Moore said "There's a minor fault that runs across this area. On occasion, we will get an earthquake. This is not exactly earthquake country."

According to a story by Roanoke, VA, station WSLS10 reporter Ashley Roberts Virginia Tech Seismologist Martin Chapman (or Champan?) said it is a coincidence that there have recently been earthquakes in California, Texas and Virginia. “Everyday there’s probably two dozen earthquakes worldwide and basically they don’t know about each other." He says earthquakes don’t cause structural damage until they get around 4.5 to 5.0 on the Richter magnitude scale.

This USGS site gives more information on Texas earthquakes.