Extreme weather events have always been with us, and always will be. One can't point to a single severe storm, or even an entire harsh winter, as evidence of climate change. But a trend of weather intensity, and oddity, grows. Droughts linger longer. Hurricanes hit harder. Snowstorms strike long after winter should have ended. World record hailstones fall. China endures a crippling drought, and then punishing floods. Millions are displaced in a flood of historic proportion in Pakistan. The U.S. sees the Mississippi River reach historic flood crests, and then sees the largest wildfire in Arizona history. None of these events on their own mean anything. Collectively, do they mean we're seeing the earth's climate change before our eyes?
1. A huge swath of the United States is affected by a winter storm that brought layers of dangerous ice and blowing snow, closing roads and airports from Texas to Rhode Island in this February 1 satellite image. The storm's more than 2,000-mile reach threatened to leave about a third of the nation covered in harsh weather. Ice fell first and was expected to be followed by up to two feet of snow in some places. (NOAA/AP)
2. Flood victim Mohammed Nawaz hangs onto a moving raft as he is rescued by the Pakistan Navy August 10, 2010 in Sukkur, Pakistan. Pakistan is suffering from the worst flooding in 80 years, which has displaced millions. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
3. A flood victim holds her head after she was injured while fighting for food being distributed from a truck in Pakistan's Muzaffargarh district of Punjab province September 10, 2010. (Asim Tanveer/Reuters)
4. A U.S. rescue helicopter carrying flood victims flys in Kallam, Pakistan September 2, 2010. Relief efforts in flood-ravaged Pakistan are being stretched by the "unprecedented scale" of the disaster. (A. MajeedAFP/Getty Images)
5. A man walks through a flooded street August 1, 2010 in Nowshera, Pakistan. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)
6. Onlookers perched on a damaged bridge watch a man use a rope to cross the river in Chakdara, Pakistan August 3, 2010. (AFP/Getty Images)
7. A fire rages near Viege, Switzerland April 26 as nine helicopters and 300 men battle a forest fire near the town in the south of drought-stricken Switzerland. Several Swiss cantons imposed bans on lighting fires in or near forested areas amid one of the worst droughts to hit the country in 150 years. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images)
8. Trucks disappear into the snow as they travel along I-70 February 1 near Boonville, Mo. Potentially the worst winter storm to hit Missouri in decades began its trek across the state, dumping more than a foot of snow while delivering freezing rain, winds and dangerously cold temperatures. (L.G. Patterson/AP)
9. Snow accumulates in a truck that was stranded and left open on Lake Shore Drive February 2 in Chicago. A winter blizzard of historic proportions wobbled an otherwise snow-tough Chicago, stranding hundreds of drivers for up to 12 hours overnight on the city's showcase lakeshore thoroughfare and giving many city schoolchildren their first ever snow day. (Kiichiro Sato/AP)
10. In this image taken from video, an explosion lights up the night sky as the the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers blows an 11,000 foot hole in the Birds Point levee in Mississippi County, Mo. May 2. The explosion will flood 130,000 acres of farmland in Missouri's Mississippi County but protect nearby Cairo, Ill. (David Carson/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP)
11. The Quad Cities River Bandits and the Peoria Chiefs play a game April 20 inside Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport, Iowa. T he rising flood waters of the Mississippi River surround the stadium which is protected by a flood wall. (Paul Colletti/The Dispatch/AP)
12. A levee protects a home surrounded by floodwater from the Yazoo River May 18 near Vicksburg, Miss. The flooded Mississippi River is forcing the Yazoo River to top its banks, and heavy rains have left the ground saturated, rivers swollen, and have caused widespread flooding along the Mississippi River from Illinois to Louisiana. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
13. Operations controller Kevin Wincell inspects the runway at City airport in London December 2. Heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures disrupted travel across Europe. (Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg)
14. Smog shrouds central London April 22. The British Government warned of potentially dangerous levels of air pollution. The combination of hot weather and still conditions brought on by a high pressure system meant levels of ozone and polluting particles were expected to increase. (Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images)
15. Utility companies set new power poles in Pratt City, Ala. May 3 as storms moved into the area already severely damaged by tornados the week before. (Butch Dill/AP)
16. A man carries a young girl who was rescued after being trapped with her mother in their home after a tornado hit Joplin, Mo. Super Outbreak 2011, on April 25-28, killed more than 300 people in the South and Midwest. There have been more than 500 deaths and counting so far this year. (Mike Gullett/AP)
17. A Chinese worker fires rockets for cloud seeding in an attempt to make rain in Huangpi, China May 10. The drought plaguing central China for months has left more than one million people without proper drinking water and cut output of hydroelectric power, as water levels at nearly 1,400 reservoirs in Hubei province have fallen below the operational level. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
18. A man fishes as geese swim in a partially dried-up river channel on a branch of the Hanjiang River in Wuhan, China May 25. The worst drought in 50 years hit the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and has affected 9.89 million people in four central provinces. (Stringer/Reuters)
19. A Chinese woman grieves during a mass funeral for victims of the floods in Linxiang, China June 11. Floods triggered by torrential rain in southern and central China have killed 52 people and forced more than 100,000 to flee their homes. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
20. A man salvages belongings from his home as flood water hit Laibin, China June 16. Rain forced the evacuation of more than 55,000 people, while the number of people confirmed killed in more than a week of floods and landslides leapt past 100. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
21. A man wades through a flooded street in Yotoco, Colombia April 22. Heavy rains caused floods and landslides throughout Colombia. Strong rains battering Colombia for the last 12 months, have already left 408 dead, 487 wounded, 75 missing and 2.8 million people affected. (Carlos Julio Martinez/AP)
22. A man collects belongings inside his flooded house in Cali, Colombia April 22. (Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty Images)
23. Men ride horses through a flooded area in San Benito, Colombia May 20. (Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images)
24. Villagers gather at the site of a devastating mudslide in Nakau, Thailand April 1 following torrential rains. Severe flooding in southern Thailand has left 25 dead and caused thousands to be evacuated after whole villages were engulfed by rising waters. (Madaree Tohlala/AFP/Getty Images)
25. A man casts a fishing net into floodwaters in the Phunpin district of Surat Thani province south of Bangkok April 3. (Sukree Sukplang/Reuters)
26. A farmer runs his tractor over the submerged motorway between Malmo and Trelleborg in southern Sweden January 17 after flooding caused by thaw following heavy snow. (Drago Prvulovic/Scanpix/Reuters)
27. University of Iowa employees use an elevator to carry out snow that had blown into the Carver Biomedical Reseach Building's air supply intake February 2 in Iowa City. The snow had blown in during a massive storm and restricted the building's intake. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
28. A longhorn bull stands in a burned out pasture April 24 near Graford, Texas. (Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
29. Wendi Lehman of Jacksonville headed for cover after visiting the Midtown Beach in Palm Beach, Fla., on April 5 as a strong storm front moved through the area. (Allen Eyestone/The Palm Beach Post/AP)
30. Truckers chain up in heavy snow on Mount Hood in Government Camp, Ore. April 6. A very late winter storm brought colder air and snow to many areas throughout western Oregon. (Don Ryan/AP)
31. An Egyptian ice cream vendor pushes his cart during a strong dust storm that engulfed Kuwait City April 13. Schools, banks and some corporations let students and employees off early due to the air quality, and authorities at Kuwait International airport reported that visibility was down to 300 meters. (Stephanie McGehee/Reuters)
32. A man pushes a cart after a hailstorm in Mexico City April 16. (Alexandre Meneghini/AP)
33. A man shelters during a winter storm at Ciudad Juarez February 2. Snow and sub-zero temperatures are a rarity in this area. (Jesus Alcazar/AFP/Getty Images)
34. A farmer carries a bucket of water to extinguish a bush fire triggered by the ongoing drought at a farm on the outskirts of Havana April 20. The shortage of rain has led to a significant drop in water levels in the country's reservoirs and has hurt the availability of groundwater, affecting water supplies and increasing the danger of fires. (Desmond Boylan/Reuters)
35. Residents transport drought-stricken camels on donkey carts as they look for greener pastures in Mogadishu April 22. (Feisal Omar/Reuters)
36. Trees are covered by snow after unusual cold hit parts of central Europe at the Brocken mountain near Schierke, Germany May 3. (Jens Schlueter/dapd/AP)
37. Workers install canvas covers on the glacier ice of Germany's highest mountain, the Zugspitze, May 10. To keep ski-lift sections safe for the winter season, the glacier ice is protected from melting from May to September. (Michaela Rehle/AP)
38. Residents search for bodies of landslide victims in Kingking, Philippines April 24. Officials said 15 miners had been rescued, but 21 people still remained missing from the landslide. (Erik de Castro/Reuters)
39. A woman reacts at the site of a deadly landslide in Port-au–Prince June 7. Heavy rain hammered southern Haiti for a seventh straight day, triggering floods and mudslides and causing houses and shanties in the capital to collapse. (Dieu Nalio Chery/AP)
40. Toads move towards dry ground after rain fell at a swamp in Cheongju, South Korea May 26. (Hwang Jung-hyon/Yonhap/Reuters)
41. Jim Pinter evacuates his home at the Wallow Fire June 2 in Alpine, Ariz. High winds and temperatures complicated firefighters' efforts to get the blaze under control. (Jack Kurtz/The Arizona Republic/AP)
42. Flames are seen over homes in Sierra Vista, Ariz. June 16. The biggest wildfire in state history is closing in on a half million acres burned. (Greg Bryan/Arizona Daily Star/AP)
43. A car lies covered by a landslide after a cloudburst in Doda, India June 9. At least four people were feared dead and hundreds of vehicles were stranded. (Channi Anand/AP)
44. Rescuers carry a body from a landslide that partially buried an orphanage in Hulu Langat, Malaysia May 22. (Bazuki Muhammad/AP)
45. People pack the emergency evacuation center at Earlville Shopping Centre as low lying areas of the city were evacuated ahead of a huge tidal storm surge predicted to accompany Cyclone Yasi in Cairns February 2. The storm had strengthened to a Catagory 5 with winds close to 300km/hr and was expected to be the worst cyclone in Australia's living memory. (Paul Crock/AFP/Getty Images)
46. Les and Deb Scott found a giant hailstone in Vivian, South Dakota July 23, 2010. (National Weather Service)
47. A storm that produced 8-inch diameter hailstones bears down on Vivian, South Dakota July 23, 2010. (Chad Cowan)
1. In this handout photo released by Nasa Earth Observatory on June 7, 2011 and taken from Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory, sunspot complex 1226-1227, shows the Sun unleashing an M-2 (medium-sized) solar flare, an S1-class radiation storm and a coronal mass ejection resulting in a large cloud of particles mushrooming up and falling back down giving the impression of covering an area of almost half the solar surface. An unusual solar flare observed by a NASA space observatory on June 7 could cause some disruptions to satellite communications and power on Earth over the next day or so, officials said. The potent blast from the Sun unleashed a firestorm of radiation on a level not witnessed since 2006, and will likely lead to moderate geomagnetic storm activity by Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. (NASA)
2. Aymara people attend the sunrise of the winter solstice ceremony in La Apacheta, El Alto in the outskirts of La Paz June 21, 2011. The solstice coincides with the Aymara Indian New Year. (Gaston Brito/Reuters)
3. Worshippers raise their hands to the Sun during the celebration of the Aymara New Year in Samaipata, 120 km west of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, on June 21. (Aizar Raldes/AFP/Getty Images)
4. A woman sleeps in a hammock at Seattle's Green Lake Park on the first day of summer, Tuesday, June 21, 2011. Temperatures hovered in the low 70s in the Emerald City on the summer solstice. (Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com/Asscociated Press)
5. A couple look at the horizon standing on a rocky crest filled with astronomical markers at the megalithic observatory Kokino, soon after sunrise, early morning on June 21, 2011 - the day of the Summer solstice. The ancient astronomic observatory, located about 100 km northeast of Skopje, the capital of the Republic of Macedonia, dates back 4.000 years and is ranked by NASA as the fourth most ancient observatory in the world. (Robert Atanasovski/AFP/Getty Images)
6. A reveller reaches up to the sky during the summer solstice at Stonehenge, near Salisbury in England, Tuesday, June 21, 2011. The ancient stone circle of Stonehenge is a World Heritage Site erected between approximately 3000BC and 1600BC and despite years of research the reason behind its construction remains a mystery. The summer solstice in the northern hemisphere occurs annually on June 21 and is the time at which the sun is at its northernmost point in the sky. (Matt Dunham/Asspociated Press)
7. The sun sets behind the Kansas City, Mo. skyline marking the end of the longest day of the year Tuesday, June 21. (Charlie Riedel/Associated Press)
8. Bernice Acosta and other enthusiast perform yoga in Times Square during an event marking the summer solstice on June 21, 2011 in New York City. Thousands of yogis will attend the free day-long event in Manhattan on the longest day of the year. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
9. Cardinals and bishops shelter from the sun as Pope Benedict XVI leads the weekly audience in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican June 22. (Giampiero Sposito/Reuters)
10. A couple kiss in the sunset during the start of winter solstice in Valparaiso City, about 121 km (75 miles) northwest of Santiago, June 21, 2011. June 21 is the date that Chileans recognize as a symbolic changing of season, marking the onset of the Southern Hemisphere's winter. (Eliseo Fernandez/Reuters)
11. A group of people stand on the rocky crest filled with astronomical markers at the megalithic observatory Kokino, soon after sunrise, early morning on June 21, 2011 - the day of the Summer solstice. The ancient astronomic observatory, located about 100 km northeast of Skopje, the capital of the Republic of Macedonia, dates more than 4.000 years back in time. It is ranked by the NASA as the fourth ancient observatory in the world. ( Robert Atanasovski/AFP/Getty Images)
12. A reveller climbs stones during the summer solstice at Stonehenge, near Salisbury in England, Tuesday, June 21, 2011. The ancient stone circle of Stonehenge is a World Heritage Site erected between approximately 3000BC and 1600BC and despite years of research the reason behind its construction remains a mystery. The summer solstice in the northern hemisphere occurs annually on June 21 and is the time at which the sun is at its northernmost point in the sky. (Matt Dunham/Associated Press)
13. Mayan descendants pray during a ceremony in honor of the upcoming summer solstice at the Mayan archeological site of Tazumal in Chalchuapa, El Salvador, Sunday June 19, 2011. The summer solstice, which happens on Tuesday, marks the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, and according to Mayan Priest Jose Erenesto Campos, the Mayans hold ceremonies to help balance the energy of mother earth and ask for abundant crops. In El Salvador, the solstice in June is referred to as winter solstice because it happens during the rainy season, which is considered the country's winter season. (/Luis Romero/Associated Press)
14. A labourer carries a basket as he is silhouetted against the rising sun in Lahore, June 21. (Mani Rana/Reuters)
15. A boy plays in the water at Ocean Beach on June 21, 2011 in San Francisco, California. On the first day of summer, the San Francisco Bay Area is experience its first heat wave of the season with temperatures in the 70's at the coast and up to 100 degrees in the inland areas. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
16. A family rows a boat on Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park on June 21, 2011 in San Francisco, California. On the first day of summer, the San Francisco Bay Area is experience its first heat wave of the season with temperatures in the 70's at the coast and up to 100 degrees in the inland areas. ( Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
17. A US soldier from Viper Company (Bravo), 1-26 Infantry scans the horizon as the sun rises at the Combat Outpost (COP) Sabari in Khost province in the east of Afghanistan on June 21, 2011. US President Barack Obama will announce the size of his drawdown of US troops from Afghanistan on June 23, mapping out an endgame for a 10-year war that has exacted a fearsome human and financial toll. (Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images)
18. The sun sets behind smoke from the Wallow fire Tuesday, June 14, 2011 in Luna, N.M. The focus of the battle against the massive wildfire burning in eastern Arizona was on New Mexico as crews continued to light fires around the town of Luna to stop the flames. (Matt York/Associated Press)#
19. The sun is reflected in a solar panel, outside the EQ-SYS factory that makes rotating frames for solar panels, in Feldheim, Brandenburg, June 20, 2011. Energiequelle GmbH and the 145 residents of Feldheim, a so-called " energy independent" community, have endeavored to break free from fossil fuel, with a mix of renewable resourcesa^€”wind, biogas, and solar, and have created their own heat and electricity networks. (John MacDougall/AFP/Getty Images)
20. A man with his bicycle is silhouetted against the setting sun as he walks through a dumping ground for recyclable material in Lahore June 15. (Mani Rana/Reuters)
21. The setting sun is shrouded in hazy clouds as it sets beyond downtown Kansas City, Mo. Monday, June 13, 2011. Smoke from massive wildfires in Arizona has created brilliant sunsets in states as far away as Kansas and Nebraska. (Charlie Riedel/Associated Press)
22. Kashmiri boys sits on a parapet of the Dal Lake as a boat man rows his boat in the backdrop of the setting sun in Srinagar, June 14. (Dar Yasin/Associated Press)
23. An aircraft is silhouetted by the sun in New Delhi June 13. (B Mathur/Reuters)#
24. The sun sets behind wind turbines at a windpark in the eastern German city of Egeln on June 2, 2011. Germany is re-thinking its energy policies after deciding to cut with nuclear power. (Jens Wolf/AFP/Getty Images)
25. Sun can be seen behind clouds and the sculpture "Man walking to the sky" by US artist Jonathan Borowsky on June 10, 2011 in Kassel, central Germany. Meteorologists forecast weather changing from fair to cloudy with mild temperatures up to 22 degrees Celsius in the region. (Uwe Zucchi/AFP/Getty Images)
26. Sun sets over the Indian presidential palace, in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, June 22, 2011. (Manish Swarup/Associated Press)
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