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.
A very strong earthquake registered by the USGS as M7.6 hit Tanimbar Islands, Indonesia at 17:47 UTC on January 9, 2023. The agency is reporting a depth of 105.1 km (65.3 miles). EMSC is reporting M7.6 at a depth of 100 km (62 miles).
Solar activity increased over the past 4 days, with numerous C- and M-class solar flares and one X-class flare. With now geoeffective AR 3182, the source of the X1.2 solar flare on January 6, developing unstable ‘beta-gamma-delta’ magnetic configuration, the chances for more X-class solar flares have increased to 30%.
Tropical Cyclone “Hale” formed on January 7, 2023, as the first named storm of the 2022/23 South Pacific cyclone season. The system tracked into New Zealand’s area of responsibility on January 8 and was reclassified as a tropical low by New Zealand’s MetService.
Indonesia’s Marapi volcano started erupting at around 23:00 UTC on January 6, 2023, resulting in a column of thick gray ash rising about 300 m (960 feet) above the peak or around 3.2 km (10 200 feet) a.s.l. The Aviation Color Code was raised to Orange. The Alert Level is at Level II (WASPADA) since August 3, 2011.
A very strong earthquake registered by the USGS as M7.0 hit Vanuatu at 12:32 UTC on January 8, 2023. The agency is reporting a depth of 27.7 km (17.2 miles). EMSC reports M7.0 at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles).
Four Corners, Florida has been crowned the new lightning capital of the United States, with a record-breaking 474 lightning events per square kilometer. The title was previously held by Flatonia, Texas, situated halfway between Houston and San Antonio.
The continuous rounds of heavy rain on already saturated soils across California will likely lead to significant flooding, rapid river rises, mudslides, and flash floods or debris flows in burn scar areas. In addition, gusty winds may cause trees and power lines to fall. Travel in the mountains may also be hazardous due to heavy snowfall.
The eruption at Kīlauea volcano in Hawaii resumed at approximately 02:34 UTC on January 6, 2023, after nearly a month of pause.
A major solar flare measuring X1.2 at its peak erupted from AR 3182 at 00:57 UTC on January 6, 2023. The event started at 00:43 UTC and ended at 01:07 UTC.
New activity/unrest was reported for 2 volcanoes from December 28 to January 3, 2023. During the same period, ongoing activity was reported for 17 volcanoes.
