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.
Hydrothermal unrest at El Chichón volcano in northern Chiapas, Mexico, has persisted since mid-2025, characterized by elevated seismicity, chemical-physical changes in the crater lake, and increased gas emissions. National and academic monitoring institutions report no evidence of magma ascent, and current conditions do not indicate an imminent eruption. The volcano remains at Yellow Alert.
A short-duration atmospheric river is forecast to impact California from Tuesday, February 10, through Thursday, February 12, 2026, bringing low-elevation rainfall and significant snowfall at higher elevations, particularly across the Sierra Nevada. Forecast guidance indicates the event will be short-lived, with impacts expected to be largely beneficial for regional snowpack rather than flood-producing.
A developing storm system is forecast to bring widespread rain and thunderstorms to the south-central and southeastern United States from Friday, February 13, 2026, through Valentine’s Day weekend, with localized flooding possible where heavier rainfall occurs. The system is expected to track eastward from the Plains into the lower Mississippi Valley and Southeast between February 13 and February 15, affecting travel and outdoor activities across a large portion of the region.
Scientists from the University of Liverpool and the University of Leeds discovered that two massive hot rock structures located about 2 900 km (1 800 miles) beneath Africa and the Pacific Ocean have been influencing Earth’s magnetic field for millions of years. Published in Nature Geoscience on February 5 2026, the study combines palaeomagnetic records and numerical geodynamo models to reveal that uneven heat flow at the core–mantle boundary controls long-term magnetic stability.
A team of scientists from Kyoto University has developed a capacitive-coupling model linking the ionosphere and Earth’s crust, showing that enhanced electron density during strong solar-flare activity could induce measurable electrostatic pressure inside fractured rock. The findings, published February 3, 2026, suggest space-weather disturbances may act as an additional stress factor when faults are critically loaded.
A bright fireball was observed over western China at around 21:00 UTC on February 5, 2026, with sightings reported across Yunnan, Sichuan, and Qinghai. Videos and eyewitness accounts show a fast-moving, luminous streak crossing the predawn sky, ending in a bright terminal flash.
An earthquake swarm began near Eldey Island on Iceland’s Reykjanes Ridge at around 12:40 UTC on February 8, 2026. The activity consisted of several hundred shallow earthquakes, most below M3. There is no reported damage or indications of eruptive activity.
Storm Marta swept across Portugal and Spain between February 6 and 8, 2026, killing at least two people and displacing more than 11 000 as torrential rain, snow, and winds up to 120 km/h (75 mph) caused extensive flooding and agricultural losses. It was the third major Atlantic storm in less than two weeks, following Leonardo and Kristin.
A second powerful storm system in less than a week impacted northern Morocco on February 8, 2026, bringing intense rainfall that caused flash floods, landslides, and fatalities. Emergency services responded to damage reports from multiple cities and rural areas.
Torrential rains in early February 2026 triggered deadly floods and landslides across Colombia, killing at least 13 people, including seven buried by a mudslide in Nariño’s Mallama municipality.
