A small earthquake rattled parts of the Southland Wednesday night.
The magnitude 2.6 quake struck a little less than a mile and a half northwest of Signal Hill and just 4 miles northwest of Long Beach at a depth of 2.5 miles or 4 kilometers at around 7:15 p.m., according to the United States Geological Survey.
“Many are reporting feeling a jolt,” the city of Long Beach tweeted, taking the opportunity to remind residents to always be prepared with emergency earthquake kits.
The small shaker comes on the heels of a magnitude 3.6 quake that hit Tuesday afternoon just 12 miles northwest of Oxnard. The epicenter was just offshore of Point Mugu at a depth of 6.6 miles.
Tens of thousands of earthquakes are recorded in California each year, but the vast majority of them are extremely minor. Only several hundred are greater than magnitude 3.0, and only about 15 to 20 are greater than magnitude 4.0, according to the USGS.
In the continental United States, only Alaska records more quakes per year than California.
According to the California Department of Conservation, the strongest quake ever recorded in the Golden State measured 7.9 magnitude and struck Fort Tejon on Jan. 9, 1857.
