Utah Earthquake pushes number of 2010 large quakes to 27

The 4.9 Richter Scale Utah Earthquake that hit Thursday night is the largest in that state in 75 years according to The Vancouver Sun, and pushes the number of large earthquakes to 27 for 2010 and on page to continue to the 92 significant earthquakes (quakes over 4 on the Richter Scale) projected for this year by this blogger.

That is a record pace.

The Utah Earthquake hit at 5:59:38 PM according to the US Geological Survey. The quake was centered five miles from and a mile below Randolph, UT, and 77 miles from Salt Lake City. The "light" earthquake didn't cause much damage or injuries and the Salt Lake Tribune reports it as if it's no big deal.

In fact, the Salt Lake Tribune goes on to report a gross inaccuracy:

The six major earthquakes occurring in the first four months of 2010 puts they year within normal range. There were 18 major quakes from April 15, 2009, to April 14, 2010, which is a number scientists say is within expectations.

That's wrong, and this space wonders if the Salt Lake Tribune is afraid to report the truth. The fact is over that period of time there were 80 large earthquakes, not 18, major quakes using the 2009 and 2010 information to date, and that's using USGS data available from its website.

The Salt Lake Tribune should stop playing games with the facts and report the information as the USGS presents it: a large quake is over 4 on the Richter Scale. The Salt Lake Tribune just mentions "large quakes" but does not define what they are.

The USGS earthquake numbers point to a problem, at least for anyone willing to look at them.

Stay tuned.