The Puget Sound experienced a 4.5 magnitude earthquake last night, a fact of which I was ignorant until I read the P-I this morning.

Centered 14 miles northwest of Seattle near Kingston, the quake was from the “same general source” as the 6.8 Nisqually quake from 2001.

Earthquakes are fairly common in this area–we have them all the time, really, and most of them go unnoted by anyone other than seismologists and the people responsible for damage control. WSDOT dispatched bridge and maintenance workers to inspect the viaduct, I-90 and SR 520 bridges immediately after notification of the earthquake. They also prioritized inspecting bridges and passes closest to the epicenter of the quake and will continue checking structures throughout the day.