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.
Strong winds produced by a low pressure system moving through the United States picked up large amounts of dust from California to Oklahoma on Tuesday, February 14, 2023, creating significant reductions in visibility that resulted in multiple car crashes in which at least one person died. In some places, the visibility was reduced to zero.
A strong earthquake registered by the GeoNet as M6.3 hit Cook Strait, New Zealand at 06:38 UTC (19:38 LT) on February 15, 2023. The agency is reporting a depth of 50 km (31 miles). USGS is reporting it as M5.7 at a depth of 74.3 km (46 miles); EMSC M5.7 at a depth of 67 km (41 miles).
New Zealand’s North Island has been severely impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle over the past couple of days, with floods, landslides, and ocean swells leaving many people stranded on rooftops. The storm, which caused extensive damage to homes and infrastructure, also closed numerous roads, canceled hundreds of flights, and left about 225 000 people without power. At least 4 people have been killed.
South Africa has declared a National State of Disaster due to the widespread impact of floods in several provinces, which have caused the loss of lives, severe damage to infrastructure, and affected homes and businesses. The flooding was brought by heavy rain affecting the region since February 8.
Northern Syria is facing a dual humanitarian crisis after a series of devastating earthquakes in Turkey caused a dam breach along the Orontes river, resulting in widespread flooding and forcing thousands to evacuate their homes.
A deep earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.1 hit Kermadec Islands, New Zealand at 09:18 UTC on February 13, 2023. The agency is reporting a depth of 374 km (232 miles). EMSC is reporting the same magnitude and depth.
A newly-discovered asteroid designated 2023 CX1 impacted Earth over the English Channel between England and France, Europe at 02:59 UTC on February 13, 2023. This small asteroid was discovered just several hours before impact, making it the 7th asteroid to be discovered before impacting Earth.
Despite being downgraded from a tropical cyclone, Gabrielle is intensifying and spreading strong winds and heavy rain across a wider area affecting the whole of the North Island in some way.
An impulsive solar flare measuring X1.1 erupted from Region 3217 at 15:48 UTC on February 11, 2023. The event started at 15:40 and ended at 15:54 UTC.
Our sun displayed high levels of activity in 24 hours to 12:30 UTC on February 9, including multiple low-level M-class solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) observed on the southeast and southwest limbs.
