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 M6.6 hit Chiapas, Mexico at 16:14 UTC (10:14 local time) on February 1, 2019. The agency is reporting a depth 67.9 km (42.1 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.6 at a depth of 70 km (43.5 miles). GEOFON reports it as M6.5 at a…
February 2 – Close approach of the Moon and Saturn – 07:05 UTC. The Moon and Saturn will make a close approach, passing within 0°37' of each other. The Moon will be 27 days old. The Moon will be at mag -9.5, and Saturn at mag 0.5, both in the constellation…
Loud outdoor booms, cracks and bangs are being reported from Minnesota to Illinois and Pennsylvania as ice quakes, also known as frost quakes or technically – cryoseisms, started popping up amid extremely cold temperatures. "Basically, it’s so cold…
Extremely cold Arctic air is spreading from Canada into the U.S. Midwest and Northeast on January 30 and 31, 2019. Extremely cold temperatures and wind chills to -51 ° C (-60 ° F) have disrupted normal life for the second day in a row and claimed lives of at…
The tornado that hit Cuba's capital city, Havana on January 27, 2019, had wind speeds of 300 km/h (186 mph) and was rated EF-4 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. Four people were killed and 195 injured. The tornado touched down between 20:30 and 21:00 local time, and…
Mount Merapi has entered a new effusive eruption phase on January 29, 2019. The Alert Level remains at 2 (on a scale of 1-4), and residents are warned to remain outside of the 3-km (1.8 miles) exclusion zone. Lava flow produced by the eruption reached a distance of…
Japanese authorities are reporting a radiation leak took place at an old nuclear fuel manufacturing facility in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan on January 30, 2019. This plant has not been operational since the reactor shut down automatically due to the 2011 Tohoku…
A severe storm dumped heavy rain and produced strong sandstorms across Saudi Arabia over the past couple of days, claiming lives of at least 12 people and injuring more than 170. The rains started in northern and western parts on Sunday, January 27, 2019 and…
According to imagery captured by satellites and passengers aboard airplanes, the Tinakula volcano in the Solomon Islands is active again. Its last eruptive period lasted from October 21 to 26, 2018 (VEI3). Heavy ashfall produced during the eruption was followed by…
A newly discovered asteroid designated 2019 BZ3 flew past Earth at a very close distance of 0.13 LD / 0.00032 AU (47 871 km / 29 745 miles) on January 27, 2019. This is the 5th known asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance since the start of the year….
