California was hit by a 3.3 magnitude earthquake on Wednesday, along a major fault line overdue for a major one.

The US Geological Survey detected the tremor at 9:31am PT outside of Borrego Springs, about 87 miles north of San Diego.

California experiences around 27 to 35 earthquakes per day, but most are very small and go unnoticed.

However, Wednesday’s quake was felt by dozens of people who reported weak to light shaking.

The seismic activity comes as scientists warned the Bay Area will soon suffer a devastating earthquake in the next few decades.

Sarah Minson from the US Geological Survey (USGS) said this month that the chances of the long-feared ‘Big One’ striking San Francisco by 2055 have risen to a staggering 72 percent.

That is because the region sits on top of the San Andreas Fault, an 800-mile-long fault which runs right through the Bay Area, which is overdue for ‘The Big One’ – a magnitude 7.8 earthquake or higher.

While Minson believes there may be some time left for Californians, USGS disagrees and warns that the first major earthquake will come in just seven years. 

This is a developing story… More updates to come 

The US Geological Survey detected the tremor at 9:31am PT outside of Borrego Springs, about 85 miles north of San Diego (pictured)

While Wednesday’s earthquake did not strike directly on San Andreas, it hit along the San Jacinto Fault Zone that is a major component of the former.

The San Jacinto Fault Zone is one of Southern California’s most dynamic seismic areas, producing at least 10 earthquakes with magnitude 6.0 or greater in the past 110 years.