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 series of small to moderate earthquakes shook Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington over the past couple of days. The largest was M3.9 at a depth of 10.2 km (6.2 miles) on January 3, 2018, followed by M2.7, M2.0 and M1.9. The quakes are believed to be tectonic in…
A powerful storm is affecting much of New Zealand since January 3, 2018 with very heavy rain and powerful winds. At least one person has been killed, authorities confirmed, numerous roads were closed, air traffic halted and more than 20 000 homes lost power. The…
According to Congolese authorities, at least 37 people died overnight Thursday, January 4, 2018, after heavy rain caused floods and landslides that swept through shanty homes in capital Kinshasa. Many of the dead lived in Ngaliema, a poor hillside community that was…
Heavy rain that flooded several localities of Bolivia's Santa Cruz department on January 2, 2018 is blamed for the deaths of at least 3 people. First evaluations show extensive damage in more than 12 municipalities, authorities said. The floods have damaged and…
A major crack discovered on the Rattlesnake Ridge in Yakima County, Washington in October 2017 is spreading some 6.3 cm (2.5 inches) per day, officials said. This slow-moving landslide is now threatening to dump as much as 765 500 m3 (1 million cubic yards) of rock…
An intense hailstorm and heaviest rains in 15 years hit the Biblián Canton in the province of Cañar, Ecuador on Tuesday afternoon, January 2, 2018. The storm hit the city around 16:00 local time and lasted for more than one hour, causing severe traffic…
A sharp M4.7 earthquake hit 3 km (1.9 miles) ESE of Berkley, California at 10:39 UTC (02:39 PST) on January 4, 2017, according to the USGS. The quake hit at a depth of 13 km (8 miles) and was felt for about 5 – 10 seconds as far away as Marin and Sonoma counties as…
A powerful winter storm brought snow, sleet, and freezing rain to parts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina on Wednesday, January 3, 2017. Although measured amounts aren't impressive at all, compared to what regions further north are used too, in many places…
New activity/unrest was reported for 4 volcanoes between December 27, 2017 and January 2, 2018. During the same period, ongoing activity was reported for 8 volcanoes. New activity/unrest: Agung, Bali (Indonesia) | Bezymianny, Central Kamchatka (Russia) | Kanlaon,…
A major meteor shower is peaking January 3/4 with a potential to produce 50 – 100 meteors at its peak, up to 200 in perfect conditions. However, this assumes moonless dark skies and a right spot at the right time. While some shooting stars associated with…
