3.6-magnitude earthquake jars awake Darrington residents

OSO — A 3.6-magnitude earthquake and a series of smaller aftershocks struck the Oso area early Tuesday morning.

The small earthquake was felt in Arlington, Darrington, Everett, Granite Falls, Lake Stevens, Snohomish and Stanwood, as well as in Skagit County, according to reports from the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network.

People reported weak to light shaking, according to the network. An earthquake of that magnitude was not expected to cause damage.

Still, some locals on social media wrote the quake woke them up and scared them.

The quake struck shortly after 1 a.m., with an epicenter just north of Oso. The depth of the quake was about 2.2 miles.

Six smaller quakes — all under magnitude 2.0 — were then reported until about 2 a.m., according to the seismic network. There has been a previous cluster of quakes near the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River.

If you felt the earthquakes, you can report them at earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/uw61832097/tellus.

The Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management used the opportunity to remind people about the dangers lurking in the dozens of faults and folds beneath us.

According to the county: “Hundreds of earthquakes occur in the Puget Sound region every year, most so small that they only can be detected using sensitive instruments. However, at least 20 strong quakes have shaken the area during the past 125 years, resulting in 16 deaths and $2 billion in damage.”

For the bigger quakes, you can download the state’s ShakeAlert app on your phone. It can give crucial seconds of advance warning for tremors with a magnitude of 4.5 or higher. For more information, go to mil.wa.gov/alerts.