I never thought about earthquakes in Maine before, and now weve had three in one year. Whats happening?
There is a long record of earthquakes in New England, going back to the 1500’s. Small earthquakes, like the few we had in December 1999 and January 2000, are quite common. We have a good record of small earthquakes since 1975, which shows that Maine has had an average of one magnitude 3 earthquake per year. They do not occur at a constant rate, however. In some years we don’t have any, and in other years we have had up to five. They are sporadic. For Maine to have four magnitude 3 earthquakes within a year (from February 1999 to January 2000) is well within the expected pattern of Maine earthquakes and does not indicate anything unusual. The Waterville-Skowhegan area just happens to be close enough to the February, 1999, earthquake and the two January, 2000, earthquakes that some people felt all three! In fact, those three earthquakes were about 50 miles apart. From the long-term record, there is nothing particular about being in the Waterville-Skowhegan area that makes it any more pro
