CALIFORNIA QUAKE STOPS WEATHER BUREAU OFFICE CLOCK
Sacramento, California (JFK+50) On January 22, 1923, an earthquake "shook Sacramento and towns in the Sacramento Valley" according to N.A. Taylor, meteorologist of the United States Weather Bureau.
The quake, which lasted for several seconds, stopped the weather bureau's office clock. It occurred between 1:05 and 1:08 a.m. local time.
The earthquake was registered at the Georgetown University observatory 2600 miles away.
JFK+50 NOTE
According to the California Residential Mitigation Program, the January 1923 earthquake, which struck near Cape Mendocino*, was "a powerful magnitude 7.1." Humboldt County has experienced 40 earthquakes of greater than 6.0 magnitude over the past century. The area is said to be "the most seismically active part of California."
*Cape Mendocino is located 200 miles north of San Francisco in Humboldt County on the westernmost point of the California coast.
SOURCES
"Anniversary of the Great Humboldt County Earthquake of 1923," January 19, 2023, California Residential Mitigation Program, www.californiaresidentialmitigationprogram.com/
"California Feels Quake Recorded Here as Severe," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., January 22, 1923, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
