Natural disasters cost $155 billion this year, and several of them struck the United States particularly hard. Hurricanes Michael and Florence, the California wildfires and Hawaii’s volcano eruption are all on the list of the most expensive global disasters of 2018, according to the Zurich-based reinsurance company Swiss Re. “Like last year, the losses from the 2018 series of events highlight the increasing vulnerability of the ever-growing concentration of humans and property values on coastlines and in the urban-wildlife interface...

Massive project aims to improve predictions of intense lightning, hail and flash floods in the shadow of the Andes mountains.

When the L.C. Waldo ran hard aground on Gull Rock, 22 crew, 2 women and a dog had to figure out how to survive for 90 hours while a November blizzard raged outside. By Tanda Gmiter.

In the whirlwind that is 2018, there has been a notable lack of high-end twisters. We're now days away from this becoming the first year in the modern record with no violent tornadoes touching down in the United States. Violent tornadoes are the strongest on a 0 to 5 scale, or those ranked EF4 or EF5.

On Estonia’s roads across the frozen Baltic you may drive below 25kph or over 40kph, but never in between. And never wear a seat belt.

If hemisphere-spanning currents are slowing, greater flooding and extreme weather could be at hand

In western Oklahoma, a region suffering through a harsh drought, several wildfires have recently broken out, including the Rhea Fire, a “megafire” which has burned more than 260,000 acres.

A rickshawala, with the help of his daughter, tried to cross a flooded road in Ramu. “I am documenting what’s around me not only as a photojournalist, but also as a victim,” Jashim Salam says. In Chittagong, Bangladesh, where he lives and works, rising water levels during monsoon season have left houses and places of business..

Where to go if you don't enjoy sudden electric bolts from the sky.

From 2 days ago.

Record shows a trend that could mean higher storm rainfall totals.

In an unusual moment, China’s citizen witnessed starfish, octopus and other marine animals including giant hailstones fell from the sky after a powerful storm hit the city in Shandong Province. To what the netizens have described as “seafood rain,” images were flooded in social media where different creatures which were sucked out of the sea are stuck to car windscreens after the rain storm. According to the Qingdao Meteorological Administration...

A storm is seen in Sarasota, Florida, June 24, 2018.

Fire tsunamis? Those aren’t normal. By Eric Holthaus.

I think it’s time to retire Maria as a name for any storm. The name has been wiped from the hurricane list in the Atlantic after Hurricane Maria completely upended life in the Caribbean. But it’s still on the rolls in the Pacific, where Typhoon Maria is about to make life miserable.

A longtime U.S. postal carrier was found dead in her mail truck in Woodland Hills on Friday afternoon amid blistering summer temperatures, authorities confirmed Monday.

Ever feel during one of these recent sweltering days that it’s just so hot you can’t think straight? Well, maybe you can’t.

The small group of Iranian farmers gathered around their tractors — long idle, parked at the town entrance next to a canal that once irrigated their fields but has been dry for years — and they protested, pleading for help from the government. “We are the people,” shouted Mostafa Benvidi. “Help the people. At night they go to bed hungry!” They held signs addressing officials they blame for their dried-up fields. “How long will you eat your bread made with our blood?” one sign read.

The Mediterranean country is now calling for international help battling the flames.

Climate change resulting from human activities made the current Europe-wide heatwave more than twice as likely to occur, say scientists. Researchers compared the current high temperatures with historical records from seven weather stations, in different parts of Europe. Their preliminary report found that the "signal of climate change is unambiguous," in this summer's heat.

As Europe bakes in another heatwave, forecasters say the all-time temperature record could be broken in the coming days. The current European record is 48C (118.4F) set in Athens in July 1977. Temperatures are rising in Spain and Portugal, aided by a surge of hot air sweeping in from Africa. Forecasters say the heat in some parts could keep rising, breaking national records and even the 41-year-old European record.

Freshwater fish are suffocating in rivers across Europe during the heatwave. In West Germany where temperatures have reached around 39 degree's celcius, there's hardly been any rain in the last few months, leaving the Rhine river in Cologne very low. Germans and tourists as well as pets will have to be careful when thinking about taking a dip in rivers or lakes to cool off because of an increase of harmful bacteria and algae in stagnant waters.

Citizens are urged to "join the struggle" to save precious crops from drought.

Scaring temperatures from Europe's summer of extreme heat has melted so much ice on Sweden's tallest peak, that it is no longer the tallest. The southern peak of Kebnekaise mountain, in northern Sweden, has shrunk by 14ft in the month of July because of the unusually hot sun melting the ice on top of it, according to figures published by Swedish news site TheLocal.se. It used to be 6892.4 ft, but thanks to the hot weather is now only 6879.2 ft.

The devastating fire tornado that spun up during the Carr Fire last week had 143 mph winds, according to a preliminary report from the National Weather Service Thursday. This is equal to an EF-3 tornado on the five-level Enhanced Fujita Scale. Dan Keeton, the meteorologist-in-charge at the National Weather Service in Sacramento, said the fact that the weather service was able to see the rotation of the 35,000-foot-tall plume on its radar — well over 100 miles south of Redding — was significant.

Colombians have been warned not to have sex because it is too hot. Health officials in a coastal city issued the recommendation for people trying to remain cool during an intense heatwave. Santa Marta city health secretary Julio Salas’s comments have been keenly debated after he called for residents of the Caribbean tourist hotspot to forego sex during the daytime.

Lane is the second category five storm in recorded history to come within 350 miles of Hawaii.

Taken on August 22, 2018.

With in less than 15 years more than one third of Bangkok will be inundated, because of extreme rainfalls and changes in weather patterns, according to a World Bank report. Tara Buakamrsi of Greenpeace said, that Bangkok is sinking each year between half and one inch.

Snapped/edited by by Jason Weingart.

The typhoon prompted officials to urge the evacuation of more than a million people. By Tuesday night at least six deaths had been reported.

Florence, the tropical storm churning in the Atlantic Ocean since late last week, is expected to strengthen into a Category 1 hurricane by Monday en route to the southeastern U.S. coast, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Sunday. The NOAA said that Florence currently has maximum sustained winds to near 75 miles per hour with strong gusts, and is likely to remain "an extremely dangerous major hurricane through Thursday," when it is expected to make landfall in the U.S.

Hurricane Florence has been upgraded for the second time Monday and is now a Category 4 storm, the National Hurricane Center said. Florence has maximum sustained winds of 130 mph and is expected to continue growing as it heads toward the US East Coast.

Communities along the Carolina coast buttoned up against the onslaught of Hurricane Florence as forecasters Wednesday warned that the monstrous storm could hesitate just offshore for days — punishing a longer stretch of coastline harder than previously feared — before pushing inland over the weekend. In a videotaped message from the White House, President Donald Trump said the government is fully prepared for Florence but urged people to "get out of its way."

"Ever stared down the gaping eye of a category 4 hurricane? It's chilling, even from space," says European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst, who is currently living and working aboard the International Space Station as a member of the Expedition 56 crew.