Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.
Tropical Cyclone “Ilsa” made landfall as a Category 5 system near Port Hedland, Western Australia around 16:00 UTC on April 13, 2023 (00:00LT on April 14), as the strongest cyclone to hit the region in 14 years.
A very strong and deep earthquake registered by the USGS as M7.0 hit near the northern coast of Java, Indonesia at 09:55 UTC on April 14, 2023. The agency is reporting a depth of 594 km (369 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.7 at a depth of 603 km (374 miles). BMKG is reporting it as M6.6 at a depth of 632 km (393 miles).
A strong and shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.0 hit near Vancouver Island, Canada at 15:54 UTC on April 13, 2023. The agency is reporting a depth of 7.3 km (4.5 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.0 at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles).
A bright daylight fireball exploded over Maine, U.S. at 15:52 UTC (11:52 EDT) on April 8, 2023, causing loud sonic booms and lighting up the daytime sky. Four radar sweeps recorded signatures consistent with falling meteorites, making this the first radar-observed meteorite fall seen in Maine.
New activity/unrest was reported for 4 volcanoes from April 5 to 11, 2023. During the same period, ongoing activity was reported for 16 volcanoes.
A catastrophic flood event hit Fort Lauderdale, Florida on April 12, 2013, after extreme 508 mm (20 inches) of rain fell over the region in just 12 hours. Historic rainfall forced National Weather Service to issue a rare Flash Flood Emergency for Hollywood, Dania Beach, and Fort Lauderdale, warning residents a life-threatening situation was unfolding.
South Korea experienced a record-breaking yellow dust storm from China on Tuesday, April 11 and Wednesday, April 12, 2023, with fine dust levels reaching their highest point this year and impacting almost every part of the country.
A recent study has found that the devastating floods in Durban in April 2022 were the most catastrophic natural disaster ever recorded in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) in terms of lives lost, economic impact, and damaged or destroyed infrastructure.
A newly-detected asteroid designated 2023 GQ flew past Earth at a distance of 0.35 LD / 0.00089 AU (133 880 km / 83 189 miles) at 11:35 UTC on April 11, 2023. This is the 20th known asteroid to fly past Earth within 1 lunar distance since the start of the year.
Tropical Storm “Ilsa” formed on Tuesday, April 11, 2023, near the coast of Western Australia as the 7th named storm of the 2022/23 Australian region cyclone season. Landfall is expected east of Port Hedland late Thursday or early Friday (LT), as a Category 4 cyclone on the Australian cyclone scale.
