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.
Typhoon "Bavi" formed north of the Philippine archipelago on August 21, 2020, as the 8th named storm of the 2020 Pacific typhoon season. The system was located in conditions conducive for rapid strengthening and by 12:00 UTC on August 22, Bavi was a Severe…
Flash floods brought by remnants of Tropical Storm "Higos" are expected to hit 40 provinces in Thailand this weekend, August 22 and 23, 2020. Mae Hong Son and Nan in the North, Loei in the Northeast, Nakhon Sawan in the Central Region, and Nakhon Nayok in…
Tropical Storm "Marco" formed over the northwestern Caribbean at 03:00 UTC on Saturday, August 22, 2020, as the 13th named storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. This is the earliest named 13th storm in the Atlantic on record. The previous record was…
Tropical Storm "Laura" formed on August 21, 2020, as the 12th named storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. Laura is following the trend of record-early storm formations this season and is now the 12th earliest Atlantic named storm on record. The…
At least 5 people have been killed and more than 30 injured as destructive wildfires continue burning across California. More than 770 structures were destroyed, nearly 283 279 ha (700 000 acres) of land scorched, more than 60 000 people evacuated and 100 000 more…
Up to 10 simultaneous waterspouts were seen and recorded off the coast of Louisiana on August 20, 2020. Lake Michigan currently holds the visual record of 9 occurring at once in a single photo. WOW… I am gobsmaked…. 10 #waterspouts at the same time reported off…
A newly-discovered asteroid designated 2020 QY2 flew past Earth at a distance of 0.18 LD / 0.00044 AU (65 823 km / 40 900 miles) at 23:50 UTC on August 20, 2020. The flyby took place just 21 minutes after 2020 PY2 and 4 days after the closest NEO flyby on record -…
A deep earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.9 hit Banda Sea, Indonesia at 04:09 UTC on August 21, 2020. The agency is reporting a depth of 627 km (389 miles). The epicenter was located 220.4 km (136.7 miles) SSE of Kotabu and 257.8 km (159.9 miles) NNE of…
A wildfire caused by lightning on July 31, 2020, about 29 km (18 miles) north of Grand Junction, Colorado has spread to 49 283 ha (121 781 acres) by August 20, 2020. Since rapid spread on August 19, this is the second-largest wildfire in the state's history….
The Governor of California Gavin Newsom declared a statewide state of emergency on August 18, 2020, as a result of the ongoing wildfires and heatwave affecting the state. As of early August 20, more than 400 wildfires are burning across the state. An 'Extreme…
