5.2 earthquake 165 miles south of New Orleans

[TSmith274]

Per WWL Ch4 in New Orleans. This occured last night (Thursday). Last month there was a 3.1 or so about 40 miles from New Orleans. Kinda strange. Is this a part of the New Madrid fault line? Anyone know?

[Ixolib]

Per WWL Ch4 in New Orleans. This occured last night (Thursday). Last month there was a 3.1 or so about 40 miles from New Orleans. Kinda strange. Is this a part of the New Madrid fault line? Anyone know?

Even after all the stuff with Katrina, I SURELY can't imagine how I'd deal with a tsunami - that would be unreal!!! But, that is something I've always wondered about - how would a significant quake far out in the GOM impact the coastal areas??

[terstorm1012]

Per WWL Ch4 in New Orleans. This occured last night (Thursday). Last month there was a 3.1 or so about 40 miles from New Orleans. Kinda strange. Is this a part of the New Madrid fault line? Anyone know?

no...the New Madrid Fault Zone is in Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, TN and Illinois.

what you're likely experiencing are quakes related to the extraction of gas and oil from the ground...though the Gulf Coast is riddled with faults they are all mostly dormant or extinct.

If you're curious, this link below has a listing of most mapped faults in the Eastern US and whether they've been active in the last million years or so.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2000/ofr-00-0260/

[DrStorm]

How strong does a quake have to be to trigger a tsunami alert? Anyone?

[DoctorHurricane2003]

6.0 I believe

[TheEuropean]

6.0 I believe

A 6.0 may produce a small local tsunami but in most casas you need a 7.0 or higher to generate such waves.

There is another thread about the quake:

http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=81237

[AussieMark]

they usually come with magnitude 7 or more.
Altho the really bad ones are from upper 7's or 8's or more usually

[Audrey2Katrina]

I seem to recall a minor tsunami (if there is any such thing) hitting along the Florida panhandle some years back... can't recall offhand exactly when, nor do I remember anything about what could have precipitated it--but I do remember seeing the pics of cars and/or some other items picked up and moved along the beaches where it came on shore.

A2K

[sweetpea]

I seem to recall a minor tsunami (if there is any such thing) hitting along the Florida panhandle some years back... can't recall offhand exactly when, nor do I remember anything about what could have precipitated it--but I do remember seeing the pics of cars and/or some other items picked up and moved along the beaches where it came on shore.

A2K

That was on the east coast in Daytona. I remember it happened on July 3rd around 1992 or 93. Can't remember the year. My brother worked at a restaurant across the street from the beach, all of a sudden he was in 3 feet of water that came in the restaurant. I remember the date because everyone was saying thank god it happened on the 3rd and not the 4th of July because the beach would have been packed with people watching the fireworks. It was a mess.

They later said it was a rogue wave. Does anyone know the difference between a rogue wave and a tsunami?

[TheEuropean]

That was on the east coast in Daytona. I remember it happened on July 3rd around 1992 or 93. Can't remember the year. My brother worked at a restaurant across the street from the beach, all of a sudden he was in 3 feet of water that came in the restaurant. I remember the date because everyone was saying thank god it happened on the 3rd and not the 4th of July because the beach would have been packed with people watching the fireworks. It was a mess.

They later said it was a rogue wave. Does anyone know the difference between a rogue wave and a tsunami?

That was in 1992:

http://ams.allenpress.com/amsonline/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1175%2F1520-0477(1995)076%3C0021:TDBWOJ%3E2.0.CO%3B2

It was no tsunami, this wave was generates by a squall line.

[Audrey2Katrina]

Yeah, that's what I found upon further research. It appears a rapidly moving thunderstorm generated this huge wave that roared into Daytona Beach on July 3, 1992. Killed over 100 people.

It seems the only areas in recent memory prone to any tsunamis in the United States would be Alaska, Hawaii, parts of the west coast, (I believe about a dozen or so were killed by one that reached some part of California in the 1940's). I imagine there is an extremely remote possibility of one in the Gulf regions (I also heard of one hitting Puerto Rico... not sure when) from action along the Caribbean plate--but the probability is extraordinarily small here--thank God for some favors!

A2K

[feederband]

That was on the east coast in Daytona. I remember it happened on July 3rd around 1992 or 93. Can't remember the year. My brother worked at a restaurant across the street from the beach, all of a sudden he was in 3 feet of water that came in the restaurant. I remember the date because everyone was saying thank god it happened on the 3rd and not the 4th of July because the beach would have been packed with people watching the fireworks. It was a mess.

They later said it was a rogue wave. Does anyone know the difference between a rogue wave and a tsunami?

That was in 1992:



http://ams.allenpress.com/amsonline/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1175%2F1520-0477(1995)076%3C0021:TDBWOJ%3E2.0.CO%3B2

It was no tsunami, this wave was generates by a squall line.

I always heard that is was a underwater landslide aboult 8 miles out ..hmmm

[TheEuropean]

Yeah, that's what I found upon further research. It appears a rapidly moving thunderstorm generated this huge wave that roared into Daytona Beach on July 3, 1992. Killed over 100 people.

A2K

There were no deaths, but many people were injured.

[Audrey2Katrina]

You are correct. I was scanning a CNN article and the deaths cited were at some other event. This one injured, depending on source from 20-75 people.

A2K

[Extremeweatherguy]

A few years back they showed something about that rouge wave on TWC. It inluded great/scary home video of the wave overwashing tourists and cars.

[Ixolib]

A few years back they showed something about that rouge wave on TWC. It inluded great home video of the wave overwashing tourists and cars.

Can't imagine...

[Weatherfreak14]

I remember than I was in cape canaveral when that happened.

[tornadochaser1986]

so has there ever been a tsunami hit the gulf coast or east coast?

[Audrey2Katrina]

I don't think a verifiable "tsunami" has hit the GC in recorded memory. Who knows I don't believe there are any threateningly active fault lines in the Gulf--but not sure by no mean as there are some smaller ones, I've read, in the Caribbean--and I think that's why hits here are less likely. if any have before that, well--I guess we'd have to find some paleogeological record of it--which at this time I'm unaware of. The most active faults over here are onland (I believe the Carolinas have a potentially VERY dangerous fault--could cause a major quake over there, and of course in the mid-American area the New Madrid is the best known (and potentially cataclysmic as the 1814 (or thereabouts) is estimated to have been well over 8.0 on the Richter).

The GOM just isn't a deep, and the potential for an event of serious magnitude (like the horrendous Indonesian Tsunami last year) simply isn't there. Now you take another asteroid/meteor crashing into earth around the Yucatan as per circa 65 million years ago--and THAT could create a tsunami of biblical proportions. Let's just hope that by playing the odds game--that could be a hundred million years or more away .

A2K

[TheEuropean]

I don't think a verifiable "tsunami" has hit the GC in recorded memory.

A2K

You are correct. I checked all available tsunami data and coudn't find any data for a tsunami in the GoM in recorded memory.