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.
Severe thunderstorms produced dust storm conditions along I-70 in northwestern Kansas on May 16–17, 2026, with the NWS Goodland warning of areas of near-zero visibility in blowing dirt and KDOT reporting an I-70 closure between Colby and Oakley due to blowing dust and crashes.
A shallow M5.2 earthquake struck Liunan District in Liuzhou, Guangxi, at 16:21 UTC on May 17, 2026, killing 2 people, injuring 4, collapsing at least 13 buildings, and prompting the evacuation of more than 7 000 residents.
The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) placed portions of central and northeastern Kansas into far southeastern Nebraska under a Moderate Risk for severe thunderstorms on Monday, May 18, 2026. Supercells are forecast to produce all severe hazards, including 5–10+ cm (2–4+ inches) hail and strong to intense tornadoes, mainly from central Kansas into southeastern Nebraska.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Ebola disease outbreak caused by Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on May 17, 2026, after confirmed international spread and concerns that undetected transmission could complicate containment efforts. The declaration, issued under the International Health…
The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) placed 80 780 km² (31 190 mi²) of the southern High Plains under an Extremely Critical fire-weather outlook for Sunday, May 17, 2026, warning that dangerous wildfire spread conditions are expected across extreme eastern New Mexico, the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles, extreme southeastern Colorado, and far southwestern Kansas.
The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) placed parts of the Central Plains under an Enhanced Risk of severe thunderstorms on Saturday, May 16, 2026, and parts of the Central Plains and Upper Midwest under Enhanced Risk on Sunday, with large to very large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes forecast across the two-day period.
A moderately strong solar flare measuring M1.9 erupted from geoeffective Active Region 4436 at 16:12 UTC on May 16, 2026. A coronal mass ejection (CME) was produced, but analysis remains incomplete pending coronagraph imagery.
New activity/unrest was reported for 5 volcanoes from May 7 to 13, 2026. During the same period, ongoing activity was reported for 17 volcanoes.
A strong earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.0 struck the Antigua and Barbuda region at 14:50 UTC on May 16, 2026. The agency is reporting a depth of 30 km (18.6 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.1 at a depth of 48 km (29.8 miles). According to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC), there is no tsunami threat from this event.
A small asteroid designated 2026 JN4 entered Earth’s atmosphere between Australia and Papua New Guinea at 13:44 UTC on May 15, 2026, after ESA’s Meerkat and JPL’s Scout systems identified a high Earth-impact probability from a short observation arc. This is now the 12th predicted Earth impactor and the first since December 3, 2024. Meter-scale asteroids of this size and velocity usually disintegrate high in the atmosphere.
