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.
Numerous moderate to strong earthquakes shook southern Puerto Rico over the past 9 days, with the strongest earthquake in the sequence — M5.8 on January 6, 2020. The quake struck 13 km (8 miles) SSE of Indios. "I've spent 29 years with Puerto Rico's…
Tropical Cyclone "Blake" formed at 00:00 UTC on Monday, January 6, 2020, off the northern coast of Western Australia, as the first tropical cyclone of the 2019/20 Australian region cyclone season. Landfall is expected in the vicinity of Wallal Downs along…
Ice has covered deserts around the Algerian town of Ain Sefra — The Gateway to the Sahara — on December 31, 2019. This is the third winter in a row we receive snow or ice reports from this area. Some of you hardcore watchers will remember Ain Sefra and amazing…
Avalanche Canada has issued a rare extreme avalanche warning for BC's Sea-to-Sky region on Friday, January 3, 2020, as a result of a combination of a weak snowpack and intense storm activity. The warning is expected to remain in place through Saturday, January…
Exceptionally heavy rain hit Jakarta Metropolitan Area on December 31, 2019, and January 1, 2020, with up to 377 mm (14.8 inches) of rain in just 24 hours. On average, Jakarta sees 203.2 mm (8 inches) of rainfall during the entire month of December. More heavy to…
A new eruption is taking place at Shishaldin volcano, Alaska on January 3, 2020, with ash cloud rising to 6 – 7.3 km (20 000 – 24 000 feet) above sea level at 21:00 UTC, drifting E-SE. According to Alaska Volcano Observatory, the level of seismicity has increased to…
Bushfires in Australia have killed at least 22 people since August 2019 and destroyed more than 2 500 buildings, including over 1 400 homes. In addition, 28 people are still missing in the state of Victoria. Half a billion animals have been killed, including a third…
Quadrantid Meteor Shower is predicted to peak at around 08:20 UTC on January 4, 2020, favoring observers in North America. The first-quarter moon will set shortly after midnight, leaving fairly dark skies for what could be, weather permitting, a good show this year….
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has raised the alert level for Kirishimayama (Shinmoedake) volcano from Level 1 to Level 2 on January 2, 2020. This is a Near-crater warning, urging residents and tourists to refrain from approaching the crater in Kobayashi,…
January 3 – Moon at First Quarter – 04:46 UTC. The Moon will be prominent in the evening sky, setting around midnight. At this time in its monthly cycle of phases, it appears almost exactly half illuminated. January 4 – Quadrantid Meteor Shower. This is an…
