A small earthquake occurred in southern Nebraska on Sunday afternoon.
This earthquake happened around 1:30pm and was measured at magnitude 4.2 with an epicenter near Lawrence, Nebraska, located about 20 miles south of Hastings, and about 140 miles southwest of Omaha, and a depth of around 4.5 miles.
Citizens in much of eastern and central Nebraska reported feeling the earthquake, including as far east as Bellevue.
A magnitude 3.0, quake was also reported just north of Sioux City, IA around 4:10pm.
According to the USGS, this quake likely occurred due to a slight pressure buildup within the shallow Earth crust, breaking rocks within the crust to relieve that pressure.
Strong earthquakes are rare for Nebraska, but small tremors are possible, usually with magnitude 2.0, or less, as Nebraska is not located near any active seismic fault, or continental plate boundary.
However, that does not mean the area does not experience strong quakes from time to time.
According to the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency, a "very strong" earthquake occurred on November 15, 1877. This quake was reported to have caused cracks in buildings across much of eastern Nebraska, including Lincoln and Omaha.
Another small earthquake was felt in that same area, just about 16 months ago! Meteorologist Joseph Meyer describes it here in a blog post from 2022: Earthquake also in southern Nebraska in July 2022
