Extreme Weather Of The Week (PHOTOS)

This week was marked by extreme weather in the U.S., although it wasn't unpleasant for many.

Parts of the American Midwest and Northeast saw record breaking temperatures during the first week of spring. Some areas saw daytime highs as warm as 40 degrees Fahrenheit above average with daytime high records shattered by morning low temperatures.

A connection to climate change has been debated. The Washington Post's Jason Samenow offered, "The increase in atmospheric heat-trapping gases is the most compelling explanation" for the increased number of record-breaking warm weather events.

Environmentalist Bill McKibben tweeted, "I know I'm a little obsessed with this heat wave--but: it's not just off the charts, it's off the wall the charts are tacked to."

In Texas, it was revealed this week that "losses from Texas' historic [2011] drought are more than $2 billion more than previously thought," reported the Associated Press. Agricultural officials say the crop and livestock losses from the prolonged 2011 dry spell are $7.62 billion. This beats the 2006 record of $4.1 billion for single year losses.

A tornado in Nebraska derailed 15 train cars this week. At least two twisters hit last weekend near North Platte, Nebraska, reported AP.

A new report from U.S. intelligence agencies suggests "drought, floods and a lack of fresh water may cause significant global instability and conflict in the coming decades," explained AP. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said, "These threats are real and they do raise serious security concerns." This report came as the world observed World Water Day. The global event, which began in 1993, is meant to focus "attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources," according to the U.N.

Below, check out some of the wildest and most extreme weather images from around the world this week.

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Comments

[cotter]

06:55 AM on 03/28/2012

When there is not enough food, or water when the air becomes unbreathable right here in the states we can point to global warming from our deathbeds and take comfort.

[Angie Cordeiro]

08:07 PM on 03/26/2012

Try this headline HuffPo: "Extreme Weather Due to Human Pollution & Greed the Demonic Corporations and Governments of the World Turn a Blind Eye."

[PaulBardinas]

11:18 AM on 03/26/2012

To the propogandists and climate change denial camp I'll make an effort to explain this in terms even you can understand. Climate scientists have never claimed that extreme weather events are exclusive to global warming or a direct result of GW. Extreme weather has always occurred. That said, the science of physics and global warming do tell us that the frequency and intensity of extreme weather will increase because of global warming. Data analysis does show statisticaly relevant marked increase in the number of global extreme weather events. Facts people. You can make moronic comments all day about liberal media conspiracies to show more extreme weather events in order to perpetuate the great climate change hoax, but that just makes you an idiot. The thousands of scientists involved in global warming science know that more frequent and more intense extreme weather is a likely byproduct of global warming and they are doing the science to determine if the recent worldwide upward trends are in fact due to global warming. For the record, I don't know of any study that has settled this question definitively, but most rational climate scientists would say that it is very likely that this trend is in large part being impacted by global warming.

[jimspy]

11:49 PM on 03/26/2012

http://makewealthhistory.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/disasters-munichre.jpg

From Munich Re. 'Nuff said.

[PaulBardinas]

11:42 AM on 03/27/2012

Thanks.

[SallyMaclennane]

08:11 AM on 03/26/2012

Welcome to the propoganda machine. If we show weekly pictures of extreme weather, then surely those stooges out there will begin to believe that we are actually experiencing more extreme weather just because they are seeing more pictures of it.

[jimspy]

11:49 PM on 03/26/2012

http://makewealthhistory.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/disasters-munichre.jpg

Any questions?

[gallon]

05:18 PM on 03/25/2012

One of the resident HuffingtonPost astroturfers visits this thread today. His paid mission here is to disrupt and disparage and confuse any climate conversation.

Meet curryandwebster. Here are a couple of excerpts from just the past day or so.

curryandwebster:

"According to climate quackery . . ."
http://tinyurl.com/6ntbj99

"It would be nice to have a coherent explanation for global warming from the climate quack camp.:
"When you point out to the climate quacks . . "
http://tinyurl.com/84x7jt7

"A link to actual data from the climate quack camp is rarer than hen's teeth."
http://tinyurl.com/7oh4op5

"The climate quack camp don't like people to know the truth."
http://tinyurl.com/7epgo7d

" . . which I'm told by the climate quacks is an infallible process . . "
http://tinyurl.com/6lkrskg

" I believe the quacks know this . . ."
http://tinyurl.com/6mo4wsm

" . . no doubt climate quacks were squawking at that point . . "
http://tinyurl.com/84moer7

"The climate quack theory is that . . ."
http://tinyurl.com/6ttveo5

" . . prior to the climate quacks claiming that . . "
http://tinyurl.com/7nhtrcn

curry wants to paint all academics as elitist, all scientists as quacks, and the rest of us are all alarmists. Curry is part of the fossil fuel funded effort to swamp discussion boards, to hack CRU and Skepticalscience and to cause mayhem where they can.

[gallon]

05:44 PM on 03/25/2012

The former poster known as jdey1234 was thrown off of both skepticalscience.com and off of Huffington Post. About the same time, curryandwebster appeared here on HP, with the same corrosive attitude and disruptive behavior as jdey1234. And they both claimed to be from central England. Coincidence? Or paid astroturfer whose mission is to swamp and destroy climate discussions on the influential forums.

[silverwolf13]

09:29 PM on 03/25/2012

Further note that tinyurl.com allows anyone to hide affiliate urls and to, effectively, post anonymously. That is, to lie as much as you want to, without attribution.

[realpolitic]

12:56 PM on 03/25/2012

One wonders with all this calamity how can the GOP keep denying climate change. There is only one certainty- that it will, probably until it becomes a laughing stock.  Just like the concerted campaign to deny that smoking caused cancer, the GOP will reverse its position when even the coal industry scientists who disparage climate change come around to acknowledge it and weather calamities mount in the United States until the resulting chaos and human loss can no longer be ignored.

[maxwells]

01:34 PM on 03/25/2012

I don't recall any GOP operatives ever admitting that cigarettes cause cancer. Do you?

Fred Singer and Richard Lindzen, two Heartland Institute stalwarts, besides being global warming deniers, also claim there's only a weak statistical link between cigarettes and cancer.

http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2010/12/fred_singers_latest_whopper.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Singer#Second-hand_smoke

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2001/07/22/the-truth-about-global-warming.html

[realpolitic]

04:56 PM on 03/25/2012

Yes, and in the meantime heavy smokers keep dying. The conservatives will never admit it, but the insurance companies acturial tables show the dangers of smoking and second hand smoke. Good to hear from you, my friend!

[realpolitic]

05:01 PM on 03/25/2012

The Daily Beast article almost reads as if written by a skeptic.

[willowtree3]

07:54 AM on 03/26/2012

The koch brothers rule the roost. They say deny and the gop agrees with their $ so
they deny too.

[realpolitic]

11:14 AM on 03/26/2012

Right!

[sunsetter]

06:36 PM on 03/24/2012

I guess I never realized that before cars there were no tornadoes, floods, blizzards, hurricanes tsunamis, heat waves, cold snaps, etc.

[lbsaltzman]

07:31 PM on 03/24/2012

Nobody said there wasn't bad weather before global warming. But global warming is causing an intensifying of many kinds of bad weather.

[grappler1987]

10:47 PM on 03/24/2012

The Little Ice Age was arguably way worse than now. Maybe we live in the goldilock climate. Just right ... at least till it continues changing.

[curryandwebster]

03:40 AM on 03/25/2012

According to climate quackery a tiny increase in global warming allegedly caused by 0.036% of the atmosphere, has led to a catastrophic increase in weather events. The reality is that nobody focused on these weather events that were dismissed as acts of god, prior to climate quacks blaming mankind for them.

Here in the UK, memorable freak weather events have been:-
1987 hurricane blew down lots of trees in southern England
1976 long drought
1963 long winter
1953 substantial flooding of east coast of Britain due to storm corresponding with high spring tide.
There have also been flooding incidents which have affected small areas of the UK but have limited impact on the economy.

Most of these freak weather events occurred prior to this alleged tipping point. The climate here has and remains stable, as can be seen from the worlds longest temperature record which covers central southern England.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/

[canuckhoser]

12:44 PM on 03/25/2012

white noise

[Jeremyewilliams]

02:25 PM on 03/25/2012

Frequency. You aren't paying attention. You need to learn what frequency means.

[ZoeMB]

06:30 PM on 03/24/2012

Pay no attention to what you can see and feel. There are several "scientists" who dispute global climate change.

[grappler1987]

10:49 PM on 03/24/2012

What you see and feel is weather. Pay attention to it to protect yourself from the elements. Regarding climate change, think global, not local or even individual, as you suggest.