Two earthquakes rumble beneath South Carolina in as many hours

Tuesday morning marked the first time in over a month that an earthquake was recorded in South Carolina.

As if in an effort to make up for lost time, Mother Nature continued the shaking as a second earthquake was confirmed in the Palmetto State less than 2 hours after the seismic activity that occurred in the Midlands.

A 2.3 magnitude earthquake was recorded near the Winnsboro area, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The seismic activity hit at 5:18 a.m. in Fairfield County, the South Carolina Emergency Management Division said.

The tremors were recorded about 3.5 miles beneath the surface of the ground, USGS data shows.

Then, at 6:44 a.m., another earthquake was confirmed in the Gayle Mill area of Chester County, the S.C. Emergency management Division said. That 1.7 magnitude seismic event was recorded about a mile underground, according to the USGS.

Gayle Mill is about 30 miles north of Winnsboro.

Recent earthquakes

The recent seismic activity means that 16 earthquakes have been confirmed in South Carolina this year, according to the state’s Department of Natural Resources Geological Survey. Prior to Tuesday’s earthquakes, the past six all were closer to Columbia, near Lake Murray.

On March 13, a 2.0 magnitude earthquake hit off the South Carolina coast, but that was in the Atlantic Ocean, not the Palmetto State.

The last earthquake recorded in South Carolina was a 2.1 magnitude quake on March 19 in Irmo, according to the USGS.

There were 35 confirmed earthquakes in South Carolina in 2025.

In 2024, there were 30 earthquakes in the Palmetto State, after 28 quakes were recorded in 2023, South Carolina DNR records show.

History of earthquakes in SC

It had been uncommon for earthquakes to hit outside the Midlands area of the Palmetto State, specifically beyond Kershaw County, where 74 earthquakes have been confirmed since the end of June 2022, according to the South Carolina DNR.

That’s also where South Carolina’s most powerful recent earthquakes were recorded on June 29, 2022.

On that day, two earthquakes — one a 3.5 magnitude and the other 3.6 — were included in a flurry of tremors and aftershocks. Those were the two largest quakes to hit South Carolina in nearly a decade. A 4.1-magnitude quake struck McCormick County in 2014.

Anyone who felt tremors and shaking or heard rumbling from Tuesday’s earthquakes can report it to the USGS.

The most recent earthquakes mean at least 183 have been detected in the Palmetto State since the start of 2022, according to South Carolina DNR. All but 60 of the quakes have been in the Midlands.

In all, 128 earthquakes have hit the Columbia area since a 3.3-magnitude quake was recorded Dec. 27, 2021, according to the DNR.

The S.C. Emergency Management Division said the majority of the recent earthquakes were classified as a micro quakes, according to the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale.

No major damage or injuries have been reported from the recent seismic activity or any of the other recent quakes.

Earthquakes that register 2.5 magnitude or less often go unnoticed and are usually recorded only by a seismograph, according to Michigan Technological University. Any quake less than 5.5 magnitude is not likely to cause significant damage, the school said.

It had been typical for South Carolina to have between six and 10 earthquakes a year, the S.C. Geological Survey previously reported. There have been 197 earthquakes in South Carolina since Jan. 18, 2021, according to DNR. During a 2022 town hall to address the earthquakes, state geologist Scott Howard said as many as 200 smaller tremors might have gone unnoticed and unrecorded.

The strongest earthquake ever recorded in South Carolina — and on the East Coast of the United States — was a devastating 7.3 in Charleston in 1886.

That quake killed 60 people and was felt over 2.5 million square miles, from Cuba to New York and Bermuda to the Mississippi River, according to the state EMD.

Reported earthquakes in SC 2025-26

This story was originally published April 21, 2026 at 11:29 AM.

Noah Feit

The State

803-771-8435

Noah Feit is a Real Time reporter with The State focused on breaking news, public safety and trending news. The award-winning journalist has worked for multiple newspapers since starting his career in 1999. Support my work with a digital subscription