GLENDALE, Calif. (KABC) -- It's always earthquake season in California.
Just last week, there were several small earthquakes. One hit Buena Park and two others were felt in Ontario.
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Seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones recently joined the Eyewitness New desk to explain why these little quakes happen and what they mean in terms of predicting a bigger one:
Q. Are small earthquakes a predictor of a bigger one on the way?
A. No, it doesn't necessarily mean something bigger is coming. Every earthquake has a very low chance of triggering something else. It has a big chance of triggering something smaller. They're aftershocks. About 5 percent of the time, the aftershock gets bigger than the main shock and then we're followed by something bigger and we change the name and call the first one a foreshock.
Q. Is it a myth that small quakes relieve pressure from the fault?
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A. Yes. They relieve stress, but they don't relieve enough stress. ... If you have small ones, you have to have big ones.
Q. Is it a myth that the weather can affect an earthquake?
A. That's absolutely a myth. ... Earthquakes are happening so deep in the earth that what's happening on the surface doesn't matter. One proof of this is that every culture in the world has a tradition of earthquake weather. But what that weather is is what they had for their most memorable earthquake.
Jones' book about earthquakes is called "Big Ones: How Natural Disasters Have Shaped Us."