Extreme Weather Photos Of The Week

This week brought several big headlines in extreme weather news:

• The polar vortex descended across much of North America on Monday and Tuesday, bringing sub-zero temperatures that set records across the continent.
• Three new schools opened in Joplin, Missouri this week, after a devastating tornado swept through the town on May 22, 2011 that killed 161 people and destroyed more than 8,000 buildings.
• Nearly 100,000 bats died in Australia this past week from a heat wave, as temperatures soared to 109 degrees Fahrenheit.
• A low pressure system, dubbed the "black swell," brought nearly 60-foot waves to France, Portugal and Ireland.
• Indonesian officials confirmed that Mount Sinabung's eruptions are intensifying, having erupted 220 times over the past week-and-a-half and displacing 20,000.

Check out photos of the week's extreme weather from around the world: