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Image capture from earthquake.usgs.gov. In the above image, the orange star marks the focus location of the earthquake in the waters offshore of Maine that was felt on January 27th in the Westwood, MA area.
1-28-2025 12:21am
Westwood Area Feels Quake Centered Off Coast of Maine on Monday
Darlene Cancell
Editor
At 10:23 a.m. on Monday, January 27th, residents in the Westwood area briefly felt the weak tremblings of an earthquake that was centered 10 km southeast of York Harbor, Maine, roughly about 80 miles north of the local area.
At its focus location, the quake measured a magnitude of 3.8 and would have been experienced as "moderate shaking," according to U.S. Geologic Survey (USGS). The USGS had initially assigned a magnitude 4.1 to the event within minutes of its occurrence but later downgraded the quake's magnitude to 3.8.
In the Westwood area, the shaking lasted a few seconds, and was generally categorized by USGS as "weak" based on local reports. This means it would have been especially felt in the upper floors of buildings, and vibrations might feel similar to a passing motor truck. Within homes and buildings, noises and rattling of items being moved by the trembling might have been heard. The event might not have been recognized as an earthquake by many people.
Reports of the earthquake came to USGS from Westwood and surrounding areas including Natick, Newton, Sherborn, Dedham, Dover, Canton, Walpole, Medfield, Norwood, Millis, and Medway.
In Massachusetts, it was felt as far south as Chatham at the southeastern tip of Cape Cod, Falmouth and Dartmouth. Tremors were also reported being felt as far west as Pittsfield.
According to the USGS website, "Moderately damaging earthquakes strike somewhere in the region every few decades, and smaller earthquakes are felt roughly twice a year." The largest New England earthquakes were a magnitude 6.5 quake in 1638 in Vermont or New Hampshire, and a magnitude 5.8 quake in 1755 offshore from Cape Ann northeast of Boston.
