A small earthquake has been reported in Upstate New York.
A 2.2 magnitude earthquake was detected in Lake Ontario about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) north of Pulteneyville, Wayne County, on Wednesday night, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The quake’s tectonic movement occurred at 7:19 p.m. approximately 7.9 km below the Earth with an epicenter at 43.396°N 77.175°W, according to USGS.
No damage or injuries have been reported.
A small number of people said they felt a “weak” or “light” earthquake in multiple towns near the shore of Lake Ontario. Pulteneyville is located about 27 miles northeast of Rochester and 60 miles northwest of Syracuse.
The USGS says a 2.2 magnitude earthquake occurred in Lake Ontario, near the shore in Upstate New York, on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025.USGS
Earthquakes occur when tectonic plates below ground abruptly slip past each other.
The USGS says earthquakes with a moment magnitude of 2.5 or less are considered small and not typically felt. Quakes between 2.5 and 5.4 are felt, but typically only cause minor damage.
Magnitude is measured by a seismograph and the numbers are similar to the previously used Richter scale. Each whole number indicates ground motion recordings increased by a factor of 10; a magnitude 3.0 earthquake is 10 times more powerful than a 2.0, and a magnitude of 5.0 earthquake is 1,000 times more powerful than 2.0.
Last year, a 4.8-magnitude earthquake in New Jersey rattled much of the northeast, including Upstate New York, but caused little damage. Large quakes are uncommon in the region, but the geology of the northeast can make it more likely to be felt over a wider area than a similar magnitude along fault lines in the western U.S.
“The rocks in the eastern U.S. that those seismic waves move through, there’s just a lot more coherence,” William Barnhart, a geophysicist and assistant coordinator for the Earthquake Hazards Program at the U.S. Geological Survey, told U.S. News & World Report. “That energy can move much more efficiently.”
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