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.
Heavy rain caused severe flash flooding in Jordan's ancient city of Petra, the kingdom's main tourist attraction, on Friday, November 9, 2018. Nearly 4 000 people were forced to evacuate. At least 12 people were killed in the country's central and…
A strong and shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.2 hit Tonga at 08:33 UTC (21:33 LT) on November 10, 2018. The agency is reporting a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.1 at a depth of 60 km (37 miles). According to the USGS, the epicenter…
While Kīlauea Volcano in Hawaii is not erupting at the moment and rates of seismicity, deformation, and gas release have not changed significantly over the past week, deformation signals are consistent with refilling of the middle East Rift Zone (ERZ) and hazards…
A destructive wildfire is rapidly growing in California's Butte County since it started early November 8, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes. The fire grew to 8 000 ha (20 000 acres) before the end of the day and is still 0% contained….
A severe storm brought extremely heavy rain, strong winds and high elevation snow to New Zealand's South Island and lower North Island on November 7 and 8, 2018. In just 57 hours, parts of the region received 652 mm (25.6 inches) of rain – more than it usually…
A strong and shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.8 hit Jan Mayen island region, Greenland Sea at 01:49 UTC on November 9, 2018. The agency is reporting a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.8 at the same depth. The epicenter was located 119…
Accumulating snow will continue to impact the Central Plains, from Kansas and Nebraska toward the Midwest today into tonight with several inches expected, NWS said today. Anomalously cold air, way below average for this time of year, will advance south into New…
New activity/unrest was reported for 2 volcanoes between October 31 and November 6, 2018. During the same period, ongoing activity was reported for 17 volcanoes. New activity/unrest: Kuchinoerabujima, Ryukyu Islands (Japan) | Sarychev Peak, Matua Island (Russia)….
Tropical Cyclone "Alcide" formed November 6, 2018 as the first named storm of the 2018/19 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season. Over the next 48 hours, this system strengthened into a Category 3 hurricane equivalent. Its formation comes 9 days before the…
A small explosive eruption took place at Planchón-Peteroa volcano in Chile at 13:23 UTC (10:24 local time) on November 7, 2018. This is the first eruption of this volcano since 2011. The eruption sent volcanic ash up to 4.2 km (14 000 feet) above sea level,…
