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Monday, June 8, 2026

Shakey shakey

(Earth) Science!

My mom and I were watching television (2pm) and she wanted to go get something to drink from the kitchen. As she was putting the lounger back down from our couch (we have a reclining sofa), the couch started to slightly shake.

We both looked at each other and was like "earthquake? No. New couch breaking already? Hopefully not". We didn't think anything of it, even though there was nothing really moving around and really wasn't all too noticeable of a movement to begin with. Almost like baby shaking.. the kind of steady movement you quickly feel when a car passes by you on the road or construction in the neighborhood.

Totally not a shake that makes you wonder the seriousness of it.  

About an hour later, our North Dakota snowbird neighbors texted us - "Are you guys okay? Did you feel the earthquake?" We looked at each other and was like "What?? For real?" so we both texted back that we didn't think it was true, but thought something had gone on. We thought it was the couch or traffic or something else. Completely unaware that it was a for real thing. 

Come to find out, it was residuals from a 6.1 earthquake off the western coast of Cuba. The tremors were felt in various places in Florida, including cities in Lee County (me), Orlando and spots on the East Coast. 

According to various sites, including the United States Geological Survey, the 6.1 magnitude quake hit 104 km WNW of Mantua, Cuba. Which is why parts of Florida received some of the effects. 

Right now there are no signs of tsunamis - no warnings or anything, but a few high rises needed to be evacuated for safety reasons. 

It's the weirdest thing because it's been over 90° every day this week and hit 101° today due to humidity. rain needs to come, but instead a little quake knocked on our door. 

The news said there were some high rises downtown that evacuated for safety reasons until security figured out what was going on. Some viral reports on other sites were showing people in Hollywood, Florida and their home water cooler was shaking. That owner said "it was almost an hour" but I don't know; it seemed like two minutes for us. I think the Southwest corridor is closer to Mantua than Hollywood is. But it could also be the way things sprawled out, if Saint Petersburg also got a little aftershock; they're a little over 2 hours north of me. 

I'm going to add some screen caps, and the links to the articles are listed below. 

USA Today, 8 June 2026


WINK News, 8 June 2026



According to Wink's 3pm newscast, an earthquake hasn't been felt in Florida (or this area) since 2006.


Wink News 3pm news cast. Taken on my iPhone. 8 June 2026



We weren't even here for that. I don't even know what job I had in 2006 when it would have happened, but it would have been in Massachusetts. 

I think the last earthquake I remember noticing, I was under 8 years old. It was mid day, maybe? Or early evening? I don't recall fully, but I was real little and at that time too, I was watching television in my parent's room because I wanted to see a specific show. The room shook some. Not enough to move anything, but enough my little pea brain didn't know what was going on. My mom said she didn't didn't notice it and my dad was at work. There wasn't any other quake in MA that we got for me to compare this to. 

CiberCuba has an article stating "The National Center for Seismological Research (CENAIS) of Cuba adjusted the magnitude to 6.2 Mw and located the epicenter 142 km northwest of Minas de Matahambre, in the province of Pinar del Río, at a depth of 20 km". 

CiberCuba screen grab



The article went on to quote a local meteorologist, Matt Devitt. He had been working at Wink before the station reorganized, and he's one of the good guys that got everyone through a lot of bad juju down here. Devitt stated this was "the second largest earthquake ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico", which goes with what his former employer stated in the screen cap I took with my phone. 

It feels like the Earth is upset with the sentient beings inhabiting the soil right now. Between flash flooding, random high heat in places that aren't usually so humid at this time of year, cold still happening in places it should be warming up, earthquakes in areas you're not expecting.. there are things going on we aren't in control of. 

As my friend Cathy said, some "scary shit" is happened. Emi (in Orlando) said that a neighbor texted her asking if she and her boyfriend felt the apartment building shake, and both of them said no; they had no clue what the neighbor was talking about. I said that she probably figured it was normal amusement park stuff (they live central to the Mouse House and competition). She said, if anything, they would have thought it was construction stuff. Erica (in the Keys) didn't notice the movement either. She's usually spending her days at work, which is in and on the water. She wasn't working today, so she said she'll ask some cohorts later, as they're doing a DnD thing tonight.

It's so strange how news travels and what people know. My mom's local friends had no idea we had an earthquake, yet, a snowbird neighbor had to text us. We felt it but thought it was something different. Reports are saying similar things; the people felt a shake but didn't know what it was. They shrugged it off like it was a glitch in the matrix. 

I don't even know how to explain any and every thing. I keep seeing news clips about crazy weather in random spots and the more unusual it is, the more I'm reminded of the science fiction movies in the early 2000s. The ones where we were being warned but laughed them off because it wouldn't happen in our lifetime. Even watching the documentary style television shows that show you life after we leave.. what would happen to the grounds we walk on.. so unbelievable in one respect but true in another. 

Without raising a lot of questions or flags, I'm going to leave the tin foil hat just slightly bent and stop talking about things that could go sideways. I wanted to post about the earthquake Cuba had and was felt in Fort Myers and tell my friends that things are okay! 

Until something else surprises us, go learn something new.

Cheers;




See also
Sci-Fi movies and shows via Amazon
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