So I’m getting gas this morning when I open our KOIN Local 6 PinPoint Weather App to see if we have any showers going. We did not.
But right on the App I saw 4 red circles and learned instantly we had a micro-quake under the slopes of Mt. Hood!
And to tell where, exactly, I zoomed in on the map to the main image here–and wow, this earthquake was right under the White River Glacier–just up the mountain from the Highway 35 bridge that crosses it.
Just to make sure our PinPoint Weather App was right on–I went to a different quake site and sure enough, our App nailed the location.
Rare Earthquake Right Under A Glacier
Having been in Portland for 15 years covering weather and earthquakes–this is the first time I’ve ever seen an earthquake right under a glacier. Kinda crazy.
My initial thought was more of a question: could one of the vast under-ice lakes inside the glacier have shifted suddenly, which was detected as an earthquake? Was there a ‘glacial outburst’ that suddenly caused flooding? One that could cause something similar to the Highway 35 flooding and slide we saw in 2006? Heavy rain likely helped release an outburst of water stored inside the glacier creating an incredible scene. I’ll never forget these images, for sure!
But after some investigating — the answers are ‘no’ and ‘no.’ The University of Washington says the quake was actually 5 miles below the surface. And Highway 35 is free and clear as of now.
PinPoint Weather App For Android, iPhone and iPad – Easy Way To See Northwest Earthquakes
You can download the app for free from the Apple App store or the Android App Market. Then make sure you do the following to turn on quakes:
On your main map page…press the “i” in the far upper corner.
That opens this list of items you can choose to display on your map. Scroll down to the “overlays” section and slide earthquakes to the on position. That’s it.
Now, when you go to your map to check the radar–you’ll see the earthquake icon (a bunch of circles) if we’ve had one in the last 24hours and you can double tap on it to get more info including how big the quake was and when it happened.
So if you’re fascinated by earthquakes like I am–here’s another reason to check out our new KOIN Local 6 PinPoint Weather App!
Wow! I didn’t have this feature turned on until this morning. Then zooming in it shows the earthquake from yesterday and one from a few hours ago just south of the first one…..wild! Thanks Bruce!