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.
A spectacular fireball exploded over northwestern China's Yushu City, Qinghai Province at around 23:23 UTC on December 22, 2020 (07:23 LT, December 23). The event lasted up to 20 seconds. Many locals reported hearing a series of loud bangs. The event was…
Two fissures continue to erupt lava into the growing lava lake in Kilauea's Halema'uma'u crater, as of 11:00 UTC on December 23, 2020. No activity outside of the crater has been observed. Gas emissions and seismic tremor remain elevated, with minor…
A major Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW) event is predicted to occur as we start the new year. If the models are correct, we can expect prolonged extremely cold temperatures to affect parts of the northern hemisphere by mid-January. SSW refers to a rapid rise in…
The National Geology and Mining Service of Chile (SERNAGEOMIN) has raised the alert level for Cerro Hudson volcano from Green to Yellow (2 of 4) on December 22, 2020. The last eruption of this volcano took place in 2011 (VEI 2). This volcano has a history of VEI 6…
Strong strombolian activity and lava fountaining were observed at Etna's Southeast Crater on December 22, 2020, after dense cloud cover prevented initial clear observations of strong explosive activity that started on December 21. At 01:30 UTC on December 22,…
A series of positive polarity, polar connected, coronal hole high speed streams (CH HSS) are expected to affect our planet in the days ahead, resulting in G1 – Minor geomagnetic storming. The area of impact is primarily poleward of 60 degrees Geomagnetic Latitude….
A newly-discovered asteroid designated 2020 YS2 flew past Earth at a distance of 0.23 LD / 0.00058 AU (86 766 km / 53 914 miles) from the center of our planet at 06:04 UTC on December 20, 2020. This is the 106th known asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance…
A strong eruption took place at Sheveluch volcano, Kamchatka, Russia at 00:35 UTC on December 22, 2020, with volcanic ash rising up to 8.5 km (28 000 feet) above sea level. As a result, KVERT raised the Aviation Color Code to Red at 01:22 UTC. According to visual…
A new paroxysmal eruptive episode started at Etna volcano, Italy on the morning of December 21, 2020. The Aviation Color Code has been raised to Red at 09:34 UTC. According to the Etna Volcano Observatory, a strong intensification of strombolian activity started at…
A new eruption has started within Kīlauea’s summit caldera, Hawai'i at 07:36 UTC on December 21, 2020. Accordingly, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) has elevated Kīlauea's volcano alert level to WARNING and its aviation color code to RED. The…
