Small quake reported in North Georgia

A small earthquake was reported early Sunday morning in North Georgia.

The magnitude 2.6 quake was reported near the town of Varnell, about 10 miles north of Dalton and not far from the Tennessee line. It hit at 2:40 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The earthquake was at least the second reported in northern Georgia this year. A 2.7 magnitude quake was reported in January near Fort Oglethorpe in Catoosa County.

Channel 2 Action News meteorologist Brian Monahan said at the time that quakes under a magnitude of 3.0 may not be felt by residents.

“I had one person tweet me that they felt it, but that was about it,” Monahan said of the January quake. “Anything less than 3.0 is a pretty weak earthquake, and not everyone will feel it.”

Each level of earthquake increases by a factor of 10, Monahan said, so a 4.0 magnitude earthquake is actually 10 times stronger than a 3.0, and 5.0 is 100 times stronger than a 3.0.

Georgia also saw at least four earthquakes in 2017.

The North Georgia area of Trion felt a quake in November, a magnitude 2.5 earthquake struck an area about 100 miles southeast of downtown Atlanta in April 2017, and a 2.5 magnitude quake hit in Augusta later in the month. An earthquake of 3.2 magnitude hit Augusta last June.