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.
On February 16, 2024, the Brazilian Navy identified a subtropical depression ESE of Rio de Janeiro, which intensified into Tropical Storm “Akará” by February 19. Akará is the first named tropical storm to develop in the South Atlantic Ocean since Iba in 2019 and the basin’s first named storm in February since Bapo in 2015. The system is expected to continue intensifying, but remain well away from Brazil.
A destructive snow avalanche mixed with rubble struck the village of Nakre in the Tatin valley, Nugram district of Nuristan Province, overnight on Sunday, February 18, 2024. The disaster resulted in at least 25 fatalities and 8 injuries, with around 20 homes destroyed or heavily damaged.
Severe storms hit NSW, Australia on February 19, 2024, causing injuries, transport shutdown, and flash flooding. The storms have resulted in four people injured by a lightning strike, significant transport disruptions, and the ignition of three houses. Sydney recorded up to 57 mm (2.24 inches) of rain, intensifying the risk of flash flooding across the state.
An atmospheric river event continues directing subtropical moisture over much of California on Monday, February 19, 2024. Heavy coastal and low elevation rain, thunderstorms, heavy mountain snow and high winds are all expected from this new atmospheric river event.
A recent study challenges the prevailing hypothesis that subducted seamounts are weakly coupled and slide aseismically, suggesting instead that they act as strong asperities causing significant earthquakes. Through modeling and analysis, researchers have debunked the weak asperity model, providing a new explanation for the source of historical tsunami earthquakes along the southern Japan Trench, including the 1677 M8.3–8.6 Enpo Boso-oki event.
Researchers at the International Centre for Earth Simulation Foundation, led by Max Wyss, have developed the Earthquake Fatality Load (EQFL), a new metric for assessing the impact of earthquakes by focusing on human fatalities relative to a country’s population.
A recent study by the University of Oulu, Finland, has revealed a significant connection between the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights, and variations in winter temperatures and electricity consumption in Finland, highlighting the role of energetic particle precipitation in affecting regional climate and energy demands.
The British Columbia wine industry is bracing for unprecedented crop losses due to an extreme cold event in January 2024, with preliminary estimates forecasting a production decrease of 97 – 99%, resulting in industry-wide revenue losses between $440 – 445 million.
Satellite images from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission have revealed the scale of an oil spill off Trinidad and Tobago’s coast, following The Gulfstream shipwreck. The spill has extended over 160 km (100 miles) westwards, threatening neighboring marine areas.
The Italian Space Agency (ASI) announced the discovery of a rare meteorite containing aluminum-copper alloy quasicrystals in Mount Gariglione, Calabria, marking a significant advancement in planetary sciences.
