3.7

3.7-magnitude earthquake felt in Banff, Canmore

'That was my alarm clock this morning,' says resident

A 3.7-magnitude earthquake was recorded in the Banff and Canmore area early Friday morning.

According to Natural Resources Canada, the earthquake took place about 35 kilometres north of Canmore at a depth of about five kilometres.

Brian McCullough, a 20-year resident of Banff, was asleep when he felt the shaking at 4:47 a.m.

“That was my alarm clock this morning,” he said.

McCullough said he first thought it was a freight train since he lives close to the Canadian Pacific Kansas City rail line, which has several trains a day pass through the mountain town.

After getting up and checking to see if anything had fallen, he searched Google and found it was an earthquake.

“When I went and I looked, it was a 4.0. That’s a little bigger than I thought it was,” McCullough said.

Brindley Smith, a seismic analyst with Natural Resources Canada, said the earthquake was originally recorded at 3.7 magnitude and upgraded to 4.3 magnitude. However, after the federal department did more analysis, it settled on a magnitude of 3.7.

“For this one, I wouldn’t be surprised if people who experienced it felt something like a large semi-truck hitting a curb outside of your house, so it can be quite startling,” he said. “Your whole house can shake; you can hear a loud bang.”

‘Infrequent, but not unexpected’

Smith said the closest monitoring station is about 80 kilometres away, and Natural Resources Canada received more than 30 reports from people providing information via the “Did You Feel It” form.

“These aren’t really unexpected earthquakes,” he said. “They can pop up sometimes, and they tend to be scattered throughout the Rockies.”

Smith said earthquakes in the Rocky Mountains are “infrequent, but not unexpected” and can happen about “once a year in the southern Rockies.”

According to regional seismicity on Natural Resources Canada’s website, there have been six recorded earthquakes throughout the region since 2025. However, they’re often far away from towns and cities.

McCullough said it was the third earthquake he’s felt in his two decades in Banff. He said he felt the 3.9-magnitude earthquake in February 2021 that was about five kilometres northwest of Banff.

He also remembered the 3.1-magnitude earthquake in 2014 that was one kilometre southwest of Banff.

“Fortunately, aside from the shaking, it wasn’t exciting since exciting and earthquakes is generally not a good combination,” he said of the latest event.

Greg Colgan is a journalist for CBC in the Bow Valley. He was previously the editor of the Rocky Mountain Outlook in Banff and Canmore. He has also worked for media outlets in Ontario and has experience covering topics such as sports, politics, housing and development, courts and arts and entertainment. He joined CBC in 2025. He can be reached at greg.colgan@cbc.ca.