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.
A very strong and shallow earthquake registered by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) as M7.1 hit near the coast of Kyushu, Japan at 07:43 UTC on August 8, 2024. The agency is reporting a depth of 30 km (18.6 miles). USGS is reporting M7.1 at a depth of 25 km (15.5 miles); EMSC M7.1 at a depth of 35 km (21.7 miles).
A newly-discovered asteroid designated 2024 PY flew past Earth at a distance of 0.24 LD / 0.00063 AU (94 290 km / 58 594 miles) from the center of our planet at 21:36 UTC on August 4, 2024.
Hurricane “Debby” made landfall near Steinhatchee in Florida’s Big Bend at 11:00 UTC on Monday, August 5, 2024. Debby had minimum central pressure of 979 hPa and maximum sustained winds of 130 km/h (80 mph) at the time of landfall, making it a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. It was moving NNE at 17 km/h (10 mph).
A coronal mass ejection (CME) produced by a long-duration M8.2 solar flare at 07:09 UTC on August 1, 2024, reached Earth early on August 4, causing G3 – Strong geomagnetic storming.
Strombolian activity at Italy’s Etna volcano increased during the night of August 3 to 4, 2024, evolving into strong lava fountaining by 03:20 UTC on August 4. In response, the Aviation Color Code was raised from Orange to Red at 02:45 UTC, indicating a higher level of volcanic threat to air travel. The last significant eruption at Etna occurred on July 23.
Tropical Depression Four is expected to strengthen into a Tropical Storm as it tracks west of the Florida Peninsula this weekend and impact Florida this weekend by bringing hazardous rainfall and flooding, gusty winds, life-threatening inundation from storm surge along portions of the west coast, and the threat of a few tornadoes.
A series of moderate to very strong earthquakes hit near the coast of Mindanao, Philippines, on August 2 and 3, 2024. The strongest in the series was M6.8 at 22:23 UTC on August 2, at a depth of 25.8 km (16 miles), followed by M6.3 at 04:20 UTC on August 3, at a depth of 15.9 km (10 miles).
New activity/unrest was reported for 9 volcanoes from July 24 – 30, 2024. During the same period, ongoing activity was reported for 14 volcanoes.
A strong and shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.0 hit the Tonga region at 13:07 UTC on July 29, 2024. The agency is reporting a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). EMSC is reporting M5.8 at a depth of 10 km.
A strong glacial flood began in Mýrdalsjökull, an ice cap atop the Katla volcano in southern Iceland, around 11:00 UTC on July 27, 2024. This event prompted authorities to raise the Aviation Color Code for Katla volcano to Yellow.
