A fireball exploded over Washington state, U.S. at around 01:57 UTC on May 7, 2020 (18:57 PDT, May 6), with a dozen eyewitness reports submitted to the American Meteor Society (AMS). A loud and deep boom was reported during the event, which startled many people…
Around 1 600 people were forced to evacuate as Five Mile Swamp Fire continues to rage in the Florida Panhandle. As of Friday morning, May 8, 2020, the fire covered 882 ha (2 180 acres) of land and was 35 percent contained, according to Florida Forest Service (FFS)…
A shallow earthquake registered by the Iranian Seismological Center (IRSC) as M5.1 at a depth of 7 km (4.3 miles) hit the city of Damavand in Tehran, Iran, at 20:18 UTC on May 7, 2020 (00:48 LT on May 8). Both USGS and EMSC reported it as shallow M4.6. At least two…
Another unprecedented wave of locust plague is expected to hit Pakistan by the end of May 2020, posing threats of food security crisis and livelihood losses. The invasion will start from the southwestern province of Balochistan, passing through the cropping area of…
Torrential rains and flash floods have claimed at least 16 lives and affected more than 200 000 people across Somalia since April 2020. About 10 others remain missing due to floods and at least 2 000 farms have been washed away since the Gu or rainy season in the…
Severe flooding affecting Ethiopia since late April has impacted at least 219 000 people and displaced as many as 104 000. Tens of thousands have been displaced following major inundations that affected mostly those in the Somali region. Flash floods also killed…
Astronomers monitoring Comet C/2020 F8 (SWAN) spotted a powerful outburst from the comet on May 5. Such outbursts usually indicate a fragmentation, but scientists are hopeful that this could just be a volatile comet. The comet is approaching Earth and the Sun– its…
NASA's OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) has successfully descended down to just 75 m (246 feet) above the surface asteroid Bennu in a risky rehearsal to prepare the spacecraft before it collects…
Russia's first satellite for monitoring the Arctic climate called Arktika-M is set to be launched by the end of 2020, as announced by the General Director of the Lavochkin aerospace company, Vladimir Kolmykov. The launch was initially scheduled in 2019 but was…
The severe drought in North Island, New Zealand– the worst in 50 years in some areas– has prompted the Auckland Council's Emergency Committee to introduce mandatory water restrictions, which will be effective across the region beginning May 16, 2020. This…
