Telescopes at a global astronomy research hub appear to have survived a devastating Australian bushfire that destroyed nearby homes and damaged several buildings on the site.
Firefighters were battling scores of wildfires raging in Australia Saturday, as a government commission warned that climate change had raised the risk of scorching heatwaves becoming more frequent.
Western Australians were bracing Friday for a cyclone with residents warned to batten down for storms and destructive winds gusting up to 140 kilometres per hour (90 mph).
2012 marked the warmest year on record for the United States and was also the second most extreme ever, the US government agency charged with monitoring weather events said.
Bushfires raged across Australia's most populous state Tuesday, fanned by intense heat and high winds in "catastrophic" conditions which have forced hasty evacuations and are threatening homes.
Thousands fled wildfires raging on the Australian island of Tasmania, destroying at least 80 properties and leaving unconfirmed reports of one man dying in the blaze.
The frequency and volatility of El Nino, a weather pattern that hammers the tropical Pacific Ocean every five years or so, does not seem linked to climate change.
The US northeast was battered by heavy snow and strong winds Thursday as a mighty storm carved a violent arc across several states, killing more than a dozen people and snarling holiday travel.
A bitter cold snap in Russia has claimed 123 lives in the past 10 days, an official said Tuesday, with the early freeze testing authorities in a country used to notoriously tough winters.
Fijians living in low-lying areas were urged to flee to higher ground Saturday as a cyclone bore down on the Pacific nation after leaving a trail of destruction in Samoa with up to 10 feared dead.
A third of Americans believe the intensity of recent natural disasters is linked to the Apocalypse described in the New Testament, according to a poll released Thursday.
The Pacific nation of Samoa faces up to two weeks without electricity, officials said Friday, after a cyclone that killed two people and sent hundreds fleeing to safety destroyed its main power station.
Flash floods and power cuts hit the Samoan capital Apia Thursday as Tropical Cyclone Evan lashed the Pacific island nation with high winds and heavy rain.