Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.
A strong earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.0 hit Sulawesi, Indonesia at 19:51 UTC on September 23, 2024. The agency is reporting a depth of 150 km (93 miles). EMSC is reporting the same magnitude and depth.
A strong earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.0 hit La Rioja Province, Argentina at 21:24 UTC on September 21, 2024. The agency is reporting a depth of 130 km (81 miles). EMSC is reporting the same magnitude and depth.
New activity/unrest was reported for 4 volcanoes from September 11 to 17, 2024. During the same period, ongoing activity was reported for 16 volcanoes.
Tropical Storm “Pulasan” — described as disorganized but still impactful, passed over Okinawa, Japan on Wednesday, September 18, 2024, bringing varying wind speeds to different parts of the region. The storm is now heading towards Shanghai, marking the second storm to hit the city in under a week, following Typhoon “Bebinka”.
The total death toll from the historic floods in Europe caused by Storm Boris has risen to 21 on Tuesday, September 17, 2024, after an 81-year-old woman was found dead in her flooded home in Austria. Another death was reported in the Czech Republic after a woman drowned near the country’s border with Poland. While heavy rains in parts of central Europe are now diminishing, another wave of very heavy rains is forecast to return to Italy, starting on Tuesday and lasting through Thursday.
A newly-discovered asteroid designated 2024 RC42 flew past Earth at a distance of just 0.06 LD / 0.00014 AU (21 645 km / 13 449 miles) at 19:32 UTC on September 12, 2024.
A shallow M5.1 earthquake struck near Ackerly, Texas, at 00:49 UTC on September 17, 2024 (19:49 CDT on September 16), shaking the Midland-Odessa region and prompting over 1 700 reports of tremors. The USGS is reporting a depth of 8.2 km (5.1 miles) and epicenter approximately 34 km (21 miles) west-southwest of Ackerly.
A new volcanic eruption is taking place in a remote and closed area of Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, west of Kilauea’s Nāpau Crater in the middle East Rift Zone.
The coronal mass ejection (CME) produced by the X4.5 solar flare on September 14, 2024, hit the Earth’s magnetic field at 23:29 UTC on September 16, sparking G4 – Severe geomagnetic storm. This was the fifth strongest solar flare of Solar Cycle 25.
Magma intrusion began in Kīlauea’s Middle East Rift Zone on September 15, 2024, increasing the potential for an eruption in this region. As a result, the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory raised the Volcano Alert Level from Advisory to Watch and the Aviation Color Code from Yellow to Orange on September 16.
