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 and shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.3 hit the Kermadec Islands region at 02:52 UTC on August 31, 2021. The agency is reporting a depth of 16 km (10 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.3 at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). The epicenter was located 984…
The entire South Lake Tahoe, El Dorado County, California is under an evacuation order on Monday, August 30, 2021, due to the rapidly spreading Caldor Fire. A Red Flag Warning is in effect for the eastern Sierra and western Nevada through September 1. Authorities…
Category 1 Hurricane "Nora" made brief landfall along the coast of Jalisco, Mexico around midnight UTC on August 29, 2021, with maximum sustained winds of 130 km/h (80 mph) and a minimum central pressure of 980 hPa. Rainfall from remnants of Nora is…
After about 3 weeks of calm, activity at Etna volcano, Italy intensified again around 15:00 UTC on August 29 with a transition to lava fountaining at 16:45 UTC, marking the volcano's 50th paroxysmal eruptive episode since February 16, 2021. The strong explosive…
Extremely dangerous Category 4 Hurricane "Ida" made landfall in Louisiana, U.S. on August 29, 2021, bringing catastrophic storm surge, maximum sustained winds of 240 km/h (150 mph), and heavy rains. More than 1 million customers in Louisiana were left…
Hurricane "Ida" is moving over the Gulf of Mexico through an area favorable for rapid intensification. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) expects it to be an extremely dangerous major hurricane when it reaches the coast of Louisiana by late Sunday, August…
Tropical Storm "Ida" strengthened into a hurricane at 17:10 UTC on Friday, August 27, 2021, just 50 km (31 miles) ESE of the Isle of Youth. Landfall took place at 18:00 UTC with maximum sustained winds of 120 km/h (75 mph) and a minimum central pressure of…
An intense cold front associated with a steep upper-air trough is affecting parts of South Africa since Thursday, August 26, 2021. The front is spreading eastwards, bringing heavy rains, disruptive snow, and cold temperatures. A change in weather conditions is…
A moderately strong solar flare measuring M4.7 at its peak erupted from geoeffective Active Region 2860 at 06:15 UTC on August 28, 2021. The event started at 05:39 and ended at 06:23 UTC. The flare event follows increased solar activity with numerous c-class flares…
Tropical Storm "Nora" formed south of Mexico at 15:00 UTC on August 26, 2021, as the 14th named storm of the 2021 Pacific hurricane season. The system is expected to strengthen to a hurricane on Saturday, August 27, and approach the southern portion of…
