Earthquake Rattles Parts of Westchester County, NJ in Middle of Night

Did you feel it?

A small, 2.2 magnitude earthquake rattled the lower Hudson Valley and parts of northeast New Jersey early Friday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The earthquake hit about a mile south of Hastings-on-Hudson in Westchester County (about three miles north of Yonkers) at 1:53 a.m., at a depth of 9.8 kilometers, the USGS said.

The town is just over 16 miles away from midtown Manhattan, so it's possible some in or very close to New York City may have felt a shake!

Several took to social media to report a rumble that woke them up in the middle of the night — including NBC New York's Natalie Pasquarella, who felt the rumble at her home in Bergen County.

Not sure what that was! Never felt an earthquake before but - whew that was odd! Our house in NJ shook and heard a loud rumble. Kids slept right through it… https://t.co/WfKoDLgKpN

— Natalie Pasquarella (@Natalie4NY) May 19, 2023

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. According to the USGS, generally earthquakes below magnitude 3 won't lead to much damage overall, but still could be felt by people. Significant damage and casualties don’t usually occur until earthquake magnitudes are around 5.5 or higher.

"It was a small earthquake as earthquakes go, but the crust here is very old so it was felt perhaps a little more strongly and over a wider area," said James Davis, a research professor with the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University. "A lot of these small magnitude 2 or 1 earthquakes happen because of something local, a quarry for instance where you’re moving lots of mass and weight around."

Earthquakes are fairly rare in the tri-state area, but weaker ones like the one early Friday do happen on occasion — like another 2.2 magnitude quake that hit west of Lake Mohegan in Westchester County in 2018, and a couple of weaker 1.27 magnitude and 1.1 magnitude ones in Oct. 2019.

Earlier this year, a 3.8 magnitude earthquake hit just outside of Buffalo, while there was a 3.6 magnitude one just south of Watertown, in Upstate New York.

Geologists will now investigate to determine the source of Friday's earthquake.