San Jose residents report earthquake, but USGS says there wasn't one

SFGATE reported on a mysterious earthquake-like shake people felt all the way from San Jose to the Santa Cruz area on Nov. 15, 2016. The USGS didn't record an earthquake at the time and the source of the rumbling is unknown. Many SFGATE readers had some funny things to say about the phantom quake. less SFGATE reported on a mysterious earthquake-like shake people felt all the way from San Jose to the Santa Cruz area on Nov. 15, 2016. The USGS didn't record an earthquake at the time and the source of the ... more Photo: SFGATE Photo: SFGATE Image 1 of / 25 Caption Close San Jose residents report earthquake, but USGS says there wasn't one 1 / 25 Back to Gallery

Update on Nov. 16, 8:23 p.m.: The U.S. military denies it was a sonic boom. Read the latest story on SFGATE.

Update on Nov. 16, 7:30 a.m.: For the latest on the mysterious earthquake-like shake that struck the San Jose area on Tuesday, check out SFGATE's most recent story on the event.

South Bay residents felt some shaking Tuesday afternoon, however the exact cause is unknown.

The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed that what South Bay residents felt was not an earthquake.

"Our duty seismologist did an extensive search and we did not see any seismic activity in the South Bay," Susan Garcia, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Geological Survey, said to SFGATE. "So it's not an earthquake, whatever they're feeling — as far as we can tell."

Despite that, many local residents did report on Twitter that a rumbling of some sort was felt at about 2:45 p.m.

Windows rattled, def bigger than a truck. Guessing #sanjose #earthquake over/under of richter at 2.6.. I'll take the over, felt like 3.2... — Ramblin' Explorer (@SinCitizenGent) November 15, 2016

@KCBSNews - any info about a quake that happend 2:40pm near San Jose/Santa Cruz? Widely felt. Nothing from USGS pic.twitter.com/Hs1eQAj6gc — Rakesh (@densaer) November 15, 2016

So my timeline lit up about 55 minutes ago with reports of an earthquake in Santa Cruz/San Jose, but no official reports? #whatwasit pic.twitter.com/iArKcTuuU8 — Native Santa Cruz (@NativeSantaCruz) November 15, 2016

Late Tuesday night, a spokesman for PG&E said the utility company was not performing any work in the area that might cause shaking.

The most recent reported shaking in California from the USGS was an earthquake with a magnitude of 3.5 near Rio Dell at about 9:46 a.m. on Tuesday.

Santa Cruz Police Department did confirm they had one call about a "loud boom" of some sort, but did not receive any other reports of an emergency or what a possible cause is. San Jose police, however, said they were unaware of any shaking Tuesday afternoon.

SFGATE will keep looking into the story and update if a cause of the rumble can be determined.

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