Millions of people across the United States on Monday made last minute preparations for an unusually bitter Arctic blast that could send temperatures plummeting to their coldest in 20 years.
Australia experienced its hottest year on record in 2013, the Bureau of Meteorology said Friday, enduring the longest heatwave ever recorded Down Under as well as destructive bushfires.
One person died and 15 were injured after a cyclone packing winds of 150 kilometres (95 miles) an hour brushed by the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion, officials said Friday.
Snow, high winds and a glacial chill hit the northeastern United States Thursday as a blast of brutal wintry weather bore down on many states and major cities, snarling air traffic.
A powerful cyclone lashed Australia's resources-rich west coast Tuesday, bringing torrential rains and destructive gales that ripped up trees and roofs and closed major global iron ore operations.
Despite several deadly disasters including a killer typhoon and a powerful earthquake, the Philippines still expects a merry Christmas this year, survey results released Tuesday said.
High winds and heavy rain battered parts of Europe on Monday, leaving at least two people dead and one man lost at sea off France, and disrupting travel two days from Christmas.
A fierce winter storm shut down much of the Middle East Friday, burying Jerusalem in snow, flooding parts of Gaza and bringing frigid, wet weather to war-ravaged Syria.
Britain faced travel chaos on Monday and more than 10,000 homes were without electricity in northwestern France as a massive storm swept in from the Atlantic Ocean.
Firefighters in Australia braced for hot, dry winds and soaring temperatures Wednesday with lightning also posing a problem as they battle to prevent a week-long bushfire disaster getting worse.
Tropical storm Raymond surged to hurricane force Sunday churning toward Mexico's Pacific coast, which is still recovering from a devastating tropical storm last month.
Typhoon Fitow barrelled into China's east coast early Monday, packing winds of more than 200 kilometres an hour after hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated.
Powerful Typhoon Fitow is expected to hit Japan's southern island chain of Okinawa on Saturday, with domestic and international flights to and from the islands cancelled.