Bizarre Illinois Quake Felt by Hundreds Southeast of Springfield

Never underestimate the ability of Illinois to surprise you and that includes the earthquake fault in the state which just woke up hundreds with a bizarre quake located southeast of Springfield.

According to the USGS, this strange quake was recorded at 11:43pm late Monday night near Lerna, Illinois. This 3.3 magnitude quake was almost immediately reported by more than 100 to the USGS.

If you zoom into the epicenter, the tremor would have originated from one of the farm fields northeast of Effingham located approximately here.

Was this a New Madrid Fault quake?

Nope, can't blame this Illinois quake on the New Madrid Fault. This 3.3 shaker would have been due to the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone. This relatively little-known fault is capable of really large earthquakes that might even rival the expected big one that the USGS says the New Madrid Fault is capable of. In this case, it was fortunately just a moderate jolt that woke up some instead of doing real damage. But, it's a good reminder that even most of Illinois needs to be earthquake aware. Much bigger quakes than the 3.3 Monday night are possible.