Early Tuesday morning, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake occurred in the Gulf of Alaska southeast of Kodiak, AK.
⚠️TSUNAMI ALERT: A #tsunami warning has been issued for parts of the west coast following at magnitude 7.9 #earthquake struck off the coast of #Alaska early this morning. Residents reported lights swinging for a bit after the quake hit. pic.twitter.com/bX1c8gZePn
— WeatherNation (@WeatherNation) January 23, 2018
The earthquake prompted Tsunami Warnings to be issued for the coastal areas of Alaska and Tsunami Watches across the West Coast.
#Tsunami Watches and Warnings posted after a 7.9 magnitude earthquake occurred in the Gulf of Alaska. If near the coast, stay alert this morning. pic.twitter.com/nkzPwwHD2o
— WeatherNation (@WeatherNation) January 23, 2018
The M 7.9 occurred as the result of strike slip faulting. At it's location, the Pacific plate is converging with the North America plate.
Over the preceding century, 11 other M7+ earthquakes have occurred within 600 km of today's earthquake.https://t.co/JzzWd0ID2k
— USGS (@USGS) January 23, 2018
Due to the earthquake happening on a slip fault, the water near the earthquake wasn’t displaced too much. This then led to the cancellation of the Tsunami Watches for the West Coast and Florida. Alaska was downgraded to an Advisory and then cancelled completely.
BREAKING: The #tsunami advisory for #Alaska has been CANCELLED. Please do not return to hazard zones until given an "all clear" from local officials. pic.twitter.com/XF9X2Y1Mto
— WeatherNation (@WeatherNation) January 23, 2018
BREAKING: #Kodiak, AK residents are being given the "all clear" from their mayor and city manager. For more: https://t.co/70nSmqaLUV #earthquake #Tsunami
— WeatherNation (@WeatherNation) January 23, 2018
For WeatherNation, Meteorologist Kate Mantych