On Sunday afternoon, Hilary, a tropical storm with gusts of 65 mph, made landfall on the Baja California coast of Mexico. As Hilary’s center moved over southern California on Sunday evening, it was the first storm to do so since the 1930s, and torrential rains were being distributed far inland and into the Southwest of the United States. In addition to dealing with Tropical Storm Hilary, Southern California experienced an earthquake.
The quake occurred along the Sisar fault, according to USGS data.
On Sunday, just before 1 p.m. CDT, Hurricane Hilary made landfall in northern Baja California, Mexico. Then, at 4:41 PM CDT on Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported a magnitude 5.1 earthquake 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles and to the southeast of Ojai, California.
The earthquake, which was followed by numerous aftershocks, only caused little damage, according to The Los Angeles Times. The USGS reported that there was no tsunami hazard.
Soon after, the word “hurriquake” started to gain popularity on social media. Could the two things, however, be connected?
The enormous amount of water these tropical systems disperse over land might theoretically trigger seismic activity, according to certain theories.
However, the U.S. Geological Survey has played down that probability.
Although there is no concrete proof of “hurriquakes,” there is research on the topic.
In an article for Forbes on the subject on Sunday, Dr. Marshall Sheperd—a specialist in weather and climate who also serves as the director of the University of Georgia’s Atmospheric Sciences Program—mentioned a Stony Brook University study that used computer modeling to demonstrate that stress on California’s famed fault lines is higher in years with more rainfall.
In contrast, Dr. Shepherd emphasized that he lacked “absolutely no evidence to say ‘yes’ to that question and to do so would be completely speculative.”
Seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones stated that there is a 5% probability that another earthquake of greater intensity may take place in the Los Angeles region anytime soon.