# Earthquake in Oklahoma 5.2 magnitude (prelim) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 6, 2011, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-oklahoma-5-2-magnitude-prelim/602029 "2011-11-06T04:16:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-oklahoma-5-2-magnitude-prelim/602029/41 "2011-11-08T03:44:16Z")
We felt it. NW OKC ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-oklahoma-5-2-magnitude-prelim/602029/42 "2011-11-08T15:24:33Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > 5.6 :rolleyes: > > Buncha pansies. > > To a Californian, anything below a 7.3 isn’t worth commenting on. Possibly; but let me introduce you to my little friend; the tornado! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-oklahoma-5-2-magnitude-prelim/602029/43 "2011-11-08T15:41:29Z")
Thank you, no. I’ve spent too many a summer on the farm in Kansas and too many nights as a child watching _Wizard of Oz_. Tornadoes scare the snot out of me! ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-oklahoma-5-2-magnitude-prelim/602029/44 "2011-11-08T15:53:51Z")
I’ve been in big LA quakes, I’ve been in big OK tornados, I’ve been in Gulf Coast hurricanes, I’ve been in CO & OK blizzards, my car was totaled by cantaloupe sized hail, my home was barely missed by a large wildfire, and I’ve been flooded and stranded for over a week in south TX. I didn’t enjoy any of them. But, tornados are interesting. Even tho they are major dread producers, they are small (localised, if you prefer) compared to these other natural disasters. And, around here anyways, the warnings are very specific. “Large wedge approaching SW parts of Fairview in 12 minutes.” or “Tornado on the ground at NW 63rd and May Ave, moving NNE at 17 mph…” ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-oklahoma-5-2-magnitude-prelim/602029/45 "2011-11-08T16:59:15Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > I’ve been in big LA quakes, I’ve been in big OK tornados, I’ve been in Gulf Coast hurricanes, I’ve been in CO & OK blizzards, my car was totaled by cantaloupe sized hail, my home was barely missed by a large wildfire, and I’ve been flooded and stranded for over a week in south TX. This sounds like the lyrics to a country song. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-oklahoma-5-2-magnitude-prelim/602029/46 "2011-11-08T18:06:22Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > This sounds like the lyrics to a country song. Nah, has to be a train wreck where his intoxicated mother was killed in his pickup. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-oklahoma-5-2-magnitude-prelim/602029/47 "2011-11-08T18:28:06Z")
I’m fine with the tornadoes, hail, floods, fires, and droughts. Keep yer damn earthquakes outta here! What’s next, Texas falls into the Gulf and we have hurricanes? (Well, OK, that might be a trade-off worth making. :p) Or will it be a plague of locusts? At any rate, now I’m trying to find out who to get to look at my 90 year old house that’s been a-shimmyin’ and a-shakin’ in unnatural ways lately. It’s quite…odd…to sit and watch the floor joists of your house _bend_. I’m tellin’ ya, it just ain’t right! ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-oklahoma-5-2-magnitude-prelim/602029/48 "2011-11-08T18:40:48Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Nah, has to be a train wreck where his intoxicated mother was killed in his pickup. Hadn’t I ever told you about that? In the pouring rain, too… ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-oklahoma-5-2-magnitude-prelim/602029/49 "2011-11-08T18:42:34Z")
Locust plague, hmmm… My water turned red this morning. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-oklahoma-5-2-magnitude-prelim/602029/50 "2011-11-08T20:08:54Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > My water turned red this morning. I’m going to the Doctor about there damn boils. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-oklahoma-5-2-magnitude-prelim/602029/51 "2011-11-08T20:17:42Z")
You guys need to come back and tell us how the preachers explain it this Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-oklahoma-5-2-magnitude-prelim/602029/52 "2011-11-08T20:20:58Z")
As long as no firstborn bite it I think I could deal. See, guess which number in the birth order I am! ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-oklahoma-5-2-magnitude-prelim/602029/53 "2011-11-08T20:29:46Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > Maybe it was caused by Texas A&M’s defense collapsing in the third quarter yesterday. ☹ Oh, so they can be predicted then. ---
**Author:** ![PeskiPiksi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e495f1/32.png) [@PeskiPiksi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeskiPiksi)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-oklahoma-5-2-magnitude-prelim/602029/54 "2011-11-08T21:51:23Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > You guys need to come back and tell us how the preachers explain it this Sunday. But that would mean going to church. I’d love to take one for the team, but then again…no thanks. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-oklahoma-5-2-magnitude-prelim/602029/55 "2011-11-08T23:25:17Z")
So what is the latest explanation for these OK quakes? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-oklahoma-5-2-magnitude-prelim/602029/56 "2011-11-08T23:42:01Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#): > > So what is the latest explanation for these OK quakes? Prince. Sh-shut up! Already ## Damn! Most of what I’m finding on search is conspiracy theory sites. Local news hasn’t even hinted at an answer. Some scholarly (looking) stuff I’ve found suggests it’s simply normal activity along an already known, but not recently active faultline, reminding us that geological time frames are long and events do seem to us to appear randomly. I haven’t found anything good enough to cite yet, tho. And, not being a geologist, I might not recognize a cite worthy site even I did run across one. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-oklahoma-5-2-magnitude-prelim/602029/57 "2011-11-08T23:42:23Z")
Geological fault lines, as far as I know. We have several, they just tend to be quiet most of the time. We usually have tiny little quakes that are too small to be felt. The last big one (5.5) was in 1952. Over the last few years, there have been a lot more quakes, including several of these large (for us - say over 4) ones. They don’t know why. But then again, no one’s ever really studied the fault lines in this part of the country. They’re pretty boring compared to the San Andreas, after all. I know there’s one (the Meers, I think) that they thought was old and inactive until fairly recently, when someone realized that it’s actually a young fault line. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs\_Johnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Mrs\_Johnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs_Johnson)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-oklahoma-5-2-magnitude-prelim/602029/58 "2011-11-09T00:12:32Z")
I felt them in Tulsa. The first one woke me up around 2:15am. My whole bedroom was shaking. I have an 8ft wide sliding glass door that kept vibrating for about 30 seconds. Saturday night was the “big” one (big for OK). Our eldest dog started whimpering and whining, then about 5 minutes later the whole house shook again. I was glad I was fully awake for that one. The third was last night and not a big deal. It is weird to have noticeable quakes here. I’ve only felt one before and it was during the past couple years. At the time I thought it was just a heavy truck rumbling by my office. I didn’t realize it was an earthquake 'til I saw it on the news. ---
**Author:** ![ems](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@ems](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ems)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-oklahoma-5-2-magnitude-prelim/602029/59 "2011-11-09T19:09:36Z")
Felt Monday nights also. LibbyCat was a little more relaxed at that one than she was on Saturday. Earthquakes and tornados in the same day - should I be worried if I see four horsemen riding down the street?😉 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-oklahoma-5-2-magnitude-prelim/602029/60 "2011-11-09T19:47:00Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Not I in central Arkansas, and I’m awake this time. I discovered yesterday that one of the aquarium lights fell off downstairs. Apparently we were rattled about a bit in Little Rock. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earthquake-in-oklahoma-5-2-magnitude-prelim/602029.md?page=2)