CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Given the time and intensity, a small earthquake near Charlotte Douglas International Airport early Monday morning likely went undetected by most people.
The magnitude 2.2 earthquake happened at 2:41 a.m. on the south side of the airport near the West Mecklenburg Recycling Center, according to the United States Geological Survey.
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A local seismograph in Dogwood Stamp Mountain, which is located in western North Carolina, is sensitive enough to have picked up the shaking. WCNC Charlotte Chief Meteorologist Brad Panovich posted a picture of the graph to X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter.
Only one person in Charlotte reported feeling the quake to the USGS. That person, who identified their location as the 28209 zip code, described very weak shaking.
Most of the earthquakes recorded in the Carolinas are 2.5 or less. One of the most recent earthquakes in the Carolinas that caused damage was a magnitude 5.1 quake in Sparta in 2020. A devasting earthquake in Charleston in 1886 is estimated to have been a magnitude 7 earthquake.
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