SALT LAKE CITY — A magnitude 4.2 earthquake rattled Salt Lake City Thursday morning.
The aftershock hit at 7:41 a.m. and was felt in many areas of northern Utah and the surrounding area.
University of Utah seismologist, Jamie Farrell, joined Dan Evans and Kerri Cronk on Good Day Utah Thursday morning.
He was asked if a pair of sizable aftershocks nearly a month afterthe original 5.7 quake has any significance.
"Well keep in mind we had a couple of 4.6 aftershocks early in the sequence, so this seems a bit unusual just because it's been a while since we felt a relatively large earthquake in this sequence," Farrell sad. "But a 4.2 at this point isn't necessarily out of the realm of possibilities, it's not totally unusual although the one the other night, given the way that the sequence was going and dying off, is a little bit unexpected, but not totally unusual."
Farrell did say Tuesday night's 4.2 might have caused a bit of chain reaction.
"The 4.2 we had the other night might have chained a little bit, you know, triggered this event, but they're all still considered aftershocks from the 5.7."
Even if that is the case, Farrell said none of this is anything out of the ordinary.
"The 4.2 from the other night could have definitely caused an increase in the number of events," he said. "But having events out this far is not unusual at all. Some aftershock sequences last weeks, some last months, there are some that last years."
Today's aftershock is one of over a thousand aftershocks from the March 18 5.7 magnitude quake that pounded Utah.
No word yet of any injuries or any damage, but this size quake is not expected to cause any.
Hunter Junior High School teacher, Jennifer Johnson, was recording her daily video message for students, when things started rumbling.
It wasn’t part of her lesson plan.
Johnson was pretty shocked when she felt the 4.2 magnitude aftershock.
"That was earthquakeI" she said.
Johnson posts these videos on youtube every day so students can see what she’s been up to.
Ironically, the aftershock happened on the day of The Great Utah Shakeout, where people are encouraged to hold earthquake drills.
The math and English teacher got the real thing, in real time.
"I'm done with that. I’m really tired of all of them," she said. "I’ve gotten more used to it, got used to the twos and the ones but having those fours have been super challenging."
Johnson said a lot of her students are really struggling with these aftershocks, so she did put a warning up on her video.
She’s heard back from some of her students who got a kick out of it
Johnson joked that she didn’t drop, cover and hold on -because it all happened so quickly.
This is a developing story and will be updated as new information becomes available.
