Update: Officials Confirm Magnitude 2.6 “Explosion” was in Fact a False Reading From Montana Quake
Officials at the Pacific Northwest Seismology Network have confirmed the report of a magnitude 2.6 “explosion” outside of Colfax was in fact a faulty reading. Paul Bodin, Manager of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network at the University of Washington confirms to Pullman Radio News that seismic stations in the inland northwest produced a false reading from an earthquake in Montana and instead approximated it’s location some 8 miles west of Colfax. The false reading reported at 1:46 a.m. has since been stricken from the United States Geological Survey website and confirmed as false. The service registered the activity as an explosion automatically due to it’s measured intensity and shallow proximity – noting that it wasn’t deep or long enough to have been an earthquake. Rather it was in fact traveling seismic waves from a magnitude 3.5 earthquake 10 miles Southeast of Lincoln Montana that tripped the system. That quake’s waves registered some two minutes later at the closest measurement station from Colfax some 100 miles away in Warden, Washington. State and Local law enforcement received several calls concerning the reports of an explosion in local and Spokane media, however no agency was able to confirm a blast site or any sign of there being an explosion capable of registering at a magnitude 2.6. Officials note faulty readings while rare, do on occasion take place and are more prevalent on this side of the state, where monitoring equipment is farther apart and less accurate.
The United States Geological Survey has registered a 2.6 magnitude “explosion,” according to the agency. USGS reports the event registered at 1:46 a.m. Neither federal or local agencies have determined the cause or found an exact location. If you have information surrounding this event contact our newsroom at news@pullmanradio.com or 509.332.6551