NOAA and the National Weather Service said three offshore quakes near Vancouver Island included a Seattle earthquake sequence late Sunday and early Monday, with the strongest reaching magnitude 5.4. The events stayed far offshore, and officials said there was no tsunami warning, advisory, watch or threat.
The first quake, magnitude 4.9, struck at 7:53 p.m. about 121 miles west-southwest of Port McNeill, British Columbia. The second hit at 9:41 p.m., measured magnitude 5.4, and was about 144 miles west-southwest of Port McNeill. A third quake, magnitude 5.2, followed at 2:13 a.m. Monday west of the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
Vancouver Island offshore timeline
All three quakes occurred at a depth of about 6.2 miles. That shallow depth, combined with the clustered timing, is what made the sequence stand out even though the area stayed well offshore. The sequence ran from Sunday evening into Monday morning, with the strongest quake arriving after the first two events.
A separate 2.6 magnitude earthquake struck in Klickitat County on Mount Adams about 2 hours and 41 minutes before the first Vancouver Island quake. That inland event did not change the offshore sequence, but it showed seismic activity on both sides of the broader Pacific Northwest within a short window.
NOAA and the National Weather Service
NOAA and the National Weather Service said the earthquakes caused no damage. The same offshore distance that kept the events away from land also limited what people on shore were likely to feel, even as the magnitudes rose above 5.0 twice during the night.
For people in the Pacific Northwest, the practical takeaway is simple: there was no tsunami threat to react to, and no damage was reported on land. The remaining question is what caused three offshore quakes to arrive in sequence near Vancouver Island, including the magnitude 5.4 event that came between the first and third shocks.
