Small magnitude 3.6 quake hits 20 miles southwest of Ridgecrest, California, United States early morning

A magnitude 3.6 earthquake near Ridgecrest, Kern County, California, USA, was reported only 3 minutes ago by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), considered one of the key international agencies that monitor seismic activity worldwide. The earthquake occurred at a very shallow depth of 2.4 miles beneath the epicenter early morning on Sunday, January 18th, 2026, at 6:54 am local time. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report.
Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake should not have caused any significant damage, but was probably felt by many people as light vibration in the area of the epicenter.
Weak shaking might have been felt in Randsburg (pop. 69) located 8 miles from the epicenter.
Other towns or cities near the epicenter where the quake might have been felt as very weak shaking include California City (pop. 13,300) located 18 miles from the epicenter, and Ridgecrest (pop. 28,800) 20 miles away. In Rosamond (pop. 18,200, 39 miles away), Lancaster (pop. 161,100, 49 miles away), Barstow Heights (pop. 24,200, 53 miles away), and Palmdale (pop. 158,400, 56 miles away), the quake was probably not felt.

Earthquake data:
Date & time: Jan 18, 2026 02:54 pm (Universal Time) local time (18 Jan 2026 14:54 GMT)
Magnitude: 3.5
Depth: 3.91 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 35.35°N / 117.8°W (Kern County, California, United States)
Primary data source: USGS
https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/earthquake/news/292260/Small-magnitude-36-quake-hits-20-miles-southwest-of-Ridgecrest-California-United-States-early-mornin.html