Flooding that swept away lives and livelihoods in middle America has riveted the nation's attention, but it is just a part of a complex global weather pattern that is almost always cruel and unusual - somewhere.
Just this year, an Indian monsoon caused flooding that also claimed many lives; gales swept Japan; winter cold and snow buffeted Turkey; storms lashed southern Europe, and the worst cyclone in a half century blasted Fiji.Just in North America, there's been plenty of extreme weather this year.
Winter storms battered the West in early January, dumping heavy snow on the Sierras, Cascades and northern Rockies and spreading unusually cold weather across the northern tier states from Washington to Minnesota. The wintry weather closed many highways. Cold weather and storms continued to pound the West Coast and Northwest for weeks.
Unusually wet conditions prevailed in southern California for 11 weeks, easing in March.
Cold settled over the center of the nation in mid-February with readings as much as 20 degrees below normal. Moderate to heavy snow blanketed the Midwest, Middle Atlantic and Northeast.
A major winter storm struck the East Coast sweeping north from Louisiana to Maine.
This Storm of the Century, March 12 to March 14, left record snow in Birmingham, Ala., and Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Cooperstown, N.Y., had more snow than in the Great Blizzard of 1888.
Record low temperatures followed the storm in the mid-Atlantic region and as far south as Daytona Beach, Fla.
Dry conditions began developing in the Southeast around May 1 and have persisted since then.