Was that an earthquake, or am I simply up too late?
Our apartment building just noticeably shook. In Philadelphia, that’d probably mean that it was about to fall down. In San Jose, though, that typically means that we had an earthquake. Light earthquakes are kind of fun — the building shakes a little, you say, “Hey, we just had an earthquake”, and that’s about it. I’ve never felt a strong earthquake, and I hopefully won’t any time soon.
Assuming it was a quake, this one was of the light-and-therefore-fun variety, at least in our part of San Jose. The USGS isn’t listing anything yet, so I can’t be sure if it was heavier elsewhere, light overall, or I’ve just stayed up too late and I’m imagining things.
Update: Looks like I wasn’t daydreaming after all. The USGS now shows a 3.8 quake twelve miles east of San Jose City Hall about fifteen minutes ago. I’m glad it wasn’t too bad. A 3.8 would do some serious damage in Philadelphia, but here that’s a non-event.