I'm a dedicated researcher, journalist, and editor at The Watchers. With over 20 years of experience in the media industry, I specialize in hard science news, focusing on extreme weather, seismic and volcanic activity, space weather, and astronomy, including near-Earth objects and planetary defense strategies. You can reach me at teo /at/ watchers.news.
Heavy rains struck Austria over the weekend, particularly affecting the Alpine regions and Vienna. The torrential downpours caused severe flooding, with record rainfall recorded in parts of Vienna, leading to significant damage and disruption to transport.
Slow-moving thunderstorms produced extremely heavy rainfall in parts of southwestern Connecticut on August 18, 2024, particularly affecting Fairfield and New Haven counties. The historic downpour caused widespread flash flooding, with Monroe experiencing a rare one in a 200-year event.
A new explosive eruption began at the “300 years of RAS” lava dome at Sheveluch volcano, Kamchatka, Russia at 11:45 UTC on August 17, 2024.
A very strong earthquake registered by the USGS as M7.0 hit off the coast of Kamchatka, Russia at 19:10 UTC on August 17, 2024. The agency is reporting a depth of 50 km (31 miles). EMSC is reporting M7.0 at a depth of 51 km (32 miles).
The coronal mass ejection (CME) produced by the X1.3 solar flare on August 14, 2024, impacted Earth around 14:30 UTC on August 18, producing G3 – Strong geomagnetic storming.
White Island’s volcanic activity has intensified with increased gas emissions from a new vent, confirmed during a monitoring flight on August 14, 2024. GeoNet reported the findings on August 16, noting that while volcanic ash concentrations have risen, the likelihood of impact on the mainland remains very low.
A strong and shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.1 hit near the east coast of Taiwan at 23:35 UTC on August 15, 2024. The agency is reporting a depth of 14 km (22.5 miles). EMSC is reporting the same magnitude and depth.
New activity/unrest was reported for 2 volcanoes from August 7 to 13, 2024. During the same period, ongoing activity was reported for 18 volcanoes.
Another phase of intense strombolian activity started at Etna’s Voragin crater during the afternoon hours of August 14, 2024, and over the next couple of hours evolved into violent lava fountaining — the 6th paroxysm at the volcano since July 4 when the series started.
A major, long-duration solar flare measuring X1.1 erupted from a large, geoeffective Active Region 3784 at 06:40 UTC on August 14, 2024. The event started at 06:00 and ended at 07:08 UTC.
