April 5, 2024: New Jersey's Biggest Earthquake (So Far)

NOTE: While these entries are dated 2022, I decided to backdate the posting dates of events from 2023 onward to the same date in 2022.

April 5, 2024: We're not used to earthquakes in New Jersey, or anywhere in the New York Tri-State Area. We had one at 3.8 on the Richter scale in 1979, which I remember. But this was noticeably bigger. 

It was at 10:23 AM, it was a 4.8, it lasted about a minute, and it appears to have been centered on Lebanon, in Hunterdon County. That's about 35 miles northwest of where I was living at the time, and about 50 miles west of Midtown Manhattan.

It was bigger and longer than the one on January 30, 1979, a 3.8. That was at 11:31, and I was in the 4th grade. I don't remember the one on February 28, 1973, but TV reports said this was the biggest one since then. But when I looked that one up, it was centered on the southwestern part of the State, near the Delaware Memorial Bridge, and was a 3.9. This was definitely bigger than that.

Apparently, there was a 4.8 on August 23, 1938, at 5:04 AM, southeast of Trenton, felt from Connecticut to the Washington, D.C. area. On August 23, 2011, at 1:51 PM, there was a 5.8, epicentered near Richmond, Virginia, and I felt it at work in Sayreville, New Jersey. At first, I thought it was a combination of a bad building and the noisy Indian guys in the IT office next door.

Today, there was a 3.8 aftershock at 5:59 PM, but, after a 4.8 a few hours earlier, a 3.8 is no longer a big deal. No injuries, let alone deaths, were reported. And very few buildings had any damage reported.

We were lucky. Chuck Scarborough had just celebrated his 50th Anniversary as the news anchor at WNBC-Channel 4. Following the 1989 San Francisco earthquake, he wrote Aftershock, imagining what kind of damage a major earthquake could do to New York. It was published in 1991, it was filmed in 1999, and aired less than 2 years before the 9/11 attacks.

The precise location of the epicenter isn't clear. At first, we heard that it was in Lebanon; then in Whitehouse Station, in the Township of Readington, 4 miles to the east; and then in Tewksbury, about 7 miles to the north of each, all in eastern Hunterdon County.

I could see the conspiracy theory coming: "It was in Whitehouse! It's President Biden's fault!"

*

April 5, 2024 was a Friday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-0 at the new Yankee Stadium. It was the team's home opener, and it started on time, just 2 hours and 44 minutes after the quake, and 60 miles from the epicenter.

Maybe they should have postponed it, at least until it was a night game: Five Toronto pitchers -- Yusei Kikuchi (5 1/3rd innings), Yimi García (2/3rds), Génesis Cabrera (2/3rds), Trevor Richards (1 and 1/3rd) and former Yankee Chad Green (1) -- pitched a 6-hit shutout.

* The New York Mets beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Washington Senators, 4-0 at Nationals Park in Washington. Aaron Nolan allowed no runs on 2 hits through the 1st 5 2/3rds innings, and 3 more Phils pitched no-hit ball the rest of the way.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 6-5 at Truist Park in the Atlanta suburb of Cumberland, Georgia. Travis d'Arnaud singled Forrest Wall home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-2 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-4 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 9-7 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Seattle Mariners, 6-5 at American Family Field in Milwaukee.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox, 2-1 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Texas Rangers beat their arch-rivals, the Houston Astros, 10-2 at Globe Life Field in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 10-7 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels, 8-6 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres, 3-2 at Oracle Park in San Francisco.

* The Cleveland Guardians and the Minnesota Twins were not scheduled. This day was set aside as an off-day, following the previous day's home opener for the Twins at Target Field in Minneapolis, in case rain (or, given that it was Minnesota, cold and/or snow were also possible) forced a postponement. It was not necessary, and the Guardians won the opener, 4-2.

* And, for the same reason, the Miami Marlins and the St. Louis Cardinals were not scheduled. The previous day, in the Cardinals' home opener at Busch Stadium, they beat the Marlins, 8-5.

Football was out of season. There were 12 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Chicago Bulls, 108-100 at the United Center in Chicago. Jalen Brunson scored 35 points in defeat for the Knicks.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Sacramento Kings, 101-100 at the TD Garden in Boston. De'Aaron Fox scored 40 in defeat for the Kings.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Washington Wizards, 108-102 at the Capital One Arena in Washington.

* The Charlotte Hornets beat the Orlando Magic, 124-115 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte.

* The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Detroit Pistons, 108-90 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the New Orleans Pelicans, 111-109 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Golden State Warriors, 108-106 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

* The Miami Heat beat the Houston Rockets, 119-104 at the Toyota Center in Houston.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, 126-112 at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

* The Toronto Raptors beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 117-111 at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 97-87 at the Footprint Center (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.

* And the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Utah Jazz, 131-102 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

And there were 6 games in the NHL:

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-3 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Washington Capitals, 4-2 at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-2 at the KeyBank Arena in Buffalo.

* The Arizona Coyotes beat their arch-rivals, the Vegas Golden Knights, 7-4 at the Mullett Arena in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Arizona.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Colorado Avalanche, 6-2 at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

* And the Seattle Kraken beat the Anaheim Ducks, 3-1 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.