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 bright meteor was captured streaking through the night sky over Sochi, Russia on Friday, December 15, 2017. Alexander Ivanov, head of the Kuban University laboratory of astrophysics, said the object was the size of a soccer ball, adding that it burned down 20 km…
Heavy rain has been affecting northeastern Oman since December 16, 2017, causing severe floods and bringing traffic to a standstill. According to local media reports, as of December 18, three people were reported dead in Saham and Fariq towns and 120 more have been…
A 13-degree long plasma filament eruption was observed in SDO/AIA 304 imagery starting at 12:29 UTC on December 15, 2017. A glancing blow is expected late December 19, in combination with a recurrent, positive polarity CH HSS. Meanwhile, solar activity is at very…
Floods and landslides triggered by slow-moving Tropical Cyclone "Kai-Tak," locally known as Urduja, killed at least 26 people and left another 23 missing in the Philippines, authorities said Sunday, December 17, 2017. More floods and landslides are…
A massive mudslide tore through a small town of Villa Santa Lucía, Palena Province of Los Lagos Region in southern Chile on Saturday, December 16, 2017, burying a vast swath of the town under mud and debris. At least 3 people have been killed and 15 are…
The Thomas Fire in California is burning for the 13th day in a row and has now grown to 259 000 acres (104 813 ha), making it the third largest wildfire in the history of California. As of December 16, the fire is only 40% contained and is still growing. One…
A slow-moving Tropical Storm "Urduja," internationally known as "Kai-Tak," crawled toward the Philippines over the past couple of days, dropping massive amounts of rain. Urduja made landfall around 06:00 UTC on December 16 in the vicinity of San…
At least two 'stronger than usual' explosions took place at Italy's Stromboli volcano over the past 24 hours. The first explosion took place at 01:30 UTC (December 15) and the second around 10:30 UTC. "A gigantic cloud of smoke was visible from the…
A very strong earthquake registered by the BMKG as M6.9 hit the coast of West Java province, Indonesia at 16:47 UTC (23:47 local time) on December 15, 2017. The agency is reporting a depth of 107 km (66 miles). The USGS initially reported M7.3 and downgraded to M6.5…
The Kanlaon volcano's seismic network recorded 1 217 volcano earthquakes on December 14, 2017, an uptick from already unusually high 578 recorded on December 13. Wispy emission of white steam-laden plumes were observed coming from the summit crater, PHIVOLCS…
