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.
Australia is enduring one of its most intense heatwaves since the 2019–20 Black Summer, with extreme temperatures, strong winds and dry lightning fuelling catastrophic fire danger across multiple states. Emergency-level bushfires have been reported in South Australia and Victoria, while BOM forecasts indicate the threat will intensify through Friday, before cooler air reaches southern regions at the weekend.
PHIVOLCS raised Mayon Volcano’s alert status to Level 3 on January 6, 2026, following intensified dome collapse events and effusive lava extrusion at the summit crater. The next day, Tokyo VAAC reported a brief ash emission to 2 700 m (9 000 feet), consistent with ongoing shallow magmatic activity.
A strong earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.5 struck Guerrero, Mexico, at 13:58 UTC (07:58 LT) on January 2, 2026. The agency is reporting a depth of 35 km (21.7 miles). EMSC is reporting the same magnitude and depth. The USGS issued a Yellow alert for shaking-related fatalities and a Green alert for economic losses.
When powerful northerly winds swept through Los Angeles on January 7, 2025, they unleashed one of the most destructive urban firestorms in U.S. history. A new study attributes those winds to a rare “jet-forced Santa Ana” pattern — a collision of upper-level atmospheric forces that produced gusts over 35 m/s (80 mph), destroyed more than 16 000 structures, and killed 31 people. The event struck ahead of the first winter rain, after months of near-record dryness that left vegetation tinder-dry.
A shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.0 struck the southeast Indian Ridge at 01:53 UTC on January 1, 2026. The agency is reporting a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). EMSC is reporting the same magnitude and depth.
A strong and shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.0 hit near the east coast of Honshu, Japan at 14:26 UTC on December 31, 2025. The agency is reporting a depth of 19.3 km (12 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.0 at a depth of 19 km (11.8 miles).
A long-duration solar flare measuring M7.1 at its peak erupted from Active Region 4324 at 13:51 UTC on December 31, 2025. The event started at 13:12 and ended at 14:11 UTC.
A surge of subtropical moisture is forecast to bring moderate to heavy rain to southern and central California on Wednesday, December 31, 2025, with rain spreading north on Thursday, January 1, 2026. A stronger system with a re-intensified atmospheric river is expected to make landfall early Friday, January 2, bringing heavier precipitation along the northern and central California coast.
A coronal mass ejection (CME) associated with an M4.2 solar flare from Region 4317 is expected to produce a G1 – Minor geomagnetic storm as it grazes Earth late on December 31 into early January 1, 2026.
Two paroxysmal eruptions occurred at Mount Etna’s Northeast Crater on December 27, 2025, marking the first major eruptive episode from this crater in almost 28 years. The events produced lava fountains up to 500 m (1 640 feet), eruptive columns rising over 10 km (6 miles) above sea level, and a short lava flow from the nearby Voragine Crater. Activity gradually declined by December 28, with continued strombolian explosions and weak effusion.
