INDEPENDENCE, Utah — A 3.9 magnitude earthquake gave Utah a sharp jolt early Thursday, shaking folks from their beds but leaving no trail of destruction or injuries. The ground rumbled just after midnight, centered about two miles northwest of Independence, a speck of a town roughly 44 miles southeast of Salt Lake City. Residents as far north as Ogden and south to Spanish Fork felt the tremors, some describing it as a quick, unsettling wobble, like a truck barreling past a house.
The quake struck at a depth of about seven miles, deep enough to spread light shaking across a wide swath of northern Utah. In places like Draper, Provo, Lehi, and West Jordan, people reported a faint quiver—nothing to knock dishes off shelves, but enough to stir a few late-night conversations. The United States Geological Survey logged the event, noting it was a classic Utah shaker, not uncommon for a state crisscrossed by fault lines.
No calls came in about crumbled walls, cracked roads, or even a single scraped knee. Emergency services in Wasatch County, where the epicenter lay, stayed quiet, with no reports of damage to homes, businesses, or infrastructure. Power lines held steady, and roads remained open. It was a reminder of Utah’s restless geology, but this time, the earth’s grumble was more bark than bite.
The quake’s reach was broad but gentle, with the USGS mapping weak to light shaking across the region. Last month, a smaller 2.6 magnitude tremor hit near Emery, about 123 miles south of Salt Lake City, and like this one, it passed without a trace of trouble. Utah’s seismic history looms larger—back in 2020, a 5.7 magnitude quake near Magna rattled the Salt Lake Valley, knocking out power to thousands and spilling acid at a refinery. Thursday’s event, by contrast, was a lightweight.
Geologists say quakes like this are par for the course in Utah, where the Wasatch Fault and other fractures keep the ground lively. The state’s seen 17 quakes above magnitude 5.5 since settlers arrived in 1847, and the USGS pegs a 57% chance of a magnitude 6.0 or higher hitting the Wasatch Front in the next 50 years. For now, though, Thursday’s tremor was just a nudge, not a shove.
Independence, a quiet rural spot, isn’t used to being the center of attention. The quake’s epicenter sat in Wasatch County, surrounded by rolling hills and small-town life. Locals likely swapped stories over coffee by morning, but with no harm done, life rolled on as usual.
The USGS recorded the quake on May 1, 2025, at a depth of 7 miles, with shaking felt across northern Utah. No aftershocks were reported by midday.