An earthquake was recorded at 5:13 p.m. Thursday in Seneca county between Fostoria and Bettsville. It measured a magnitude of 2.5 .  Quakes of this magnitude are recorded by seismographs, but are not always felt by people.

Fostoria police and the Seneca County Sheriff’s Office say they received calls from residents who reported hearing a boom and rumbling sound in Fostoria and as far south as Tiffin around 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

(info above courtesy of Mike Hansen–Ohio Seismic Network, wtol.com and the Findlay Courier)

While not a very common occurrence,  earthquakes are not extremely rare here.  In fact, about 12 have happened in the past 2 years in Ohio.   A lot of earthquakes have been centered in NE Ohio and offshore.

Here is a link for more info:  Ohio Seismic Network

As our tranquil weather pattern continues, it is anything but calm elsewhere.

Hurricane Jimena has diminished (it has moved over colder water, and has dropped from a near category 5 hurricane to a category 2 as of Wednesday morning), but will hang around Baja the next few days.  The minimal movement will cause prolonged torrential rainfall. 

A new tropical storm has formed in the Atlantic.  Erika (pronounced air-ree-kuh) formed Tuesday and is located east of the Caribbean.  The track will move it north of Puerto Rico, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba towards the Bahamas…and possibly towards Florida by early next week.  Erika is not well-organized, and doesn’t show any big signs of strengthening the next few days.

You can follow the systems with our Hurricane Tracker, as well as the National Hurricane Center.

A major earthquake hit southern Indonesia early today.  A 7.3 magnitude quake hit Java, Indonesia, at around 3:55 am EDT (2:55 pm there), with a second quake of 4.9 magnitude at 5:28 am EDT (4:28 pm local time).

A tsunami warning was issued, but cancelled shortly thereafter.  As of this writing, 7 people were reported killed in the initial earthquake. 

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) listed the depth of the first earthquake at 30 miles into the earth.  The USGS listed the magnitude as 7.0, but a local Indonesian geological agency estimates it was a little stronger at 7.3.