South Central Missouri Earthquake Felt by Many Wednesday

While it's not necessarily rare, it's not often that you see a Missouri earthquake that is felt in the south central part of the state, but that's exactly what many reported feeling Wednesday morning and the USGS has confirmed it.

According to the USGS, this quake shook the area east of West Plains at 8:31am Wednesday, October 14, 2026

Infographic, USGS.gov

If you zoom in, you can see that this quake which registered 2.5 on the Richter Scale was located not that far from Thomasville, Missouri just south of Highway 160.

Infographic, USGS.gov

While a 2.5 magnitude quake isn't large enough to do any damage, it was reported felt by many according to the USGS shake page. Unlike the USGS experts, I am not a seismologist, but I have noticed that there have been more quakes in the south central part of Missouri this year compared to recent years. That's likely not significant, but just an interesting twist and a reminder that southern Missouri remains one of the most seismically-active regions in the United States.