Snow blanketed Jerusalem last week

Xtreme Weather Watch: A rare winter storm shut roads and schools and brought cities to a grinding halt in the Middle East last week – though children enjoyed throwing snowballs and using makeshift sleds. The roads were empty at rush hour in Jerusalem, banks closed in Damascus, and torrential rain and hail pummeled Beirut. In Ramallah, some told reporters they had never seen snow before. Jerusalem sees it a couple of times a year, but it usually is light and melts right away. On Thursday there were several inches on the ground for the second day. (Agence France-Presse, New York Times, Daily Mail UK, Reuters)

Afghanistan suffered severe cold and snow in January, leaving more than 100 people and 35,000 cattle dead. As if they didn’t already have enough problems. Roads were blocked by avalanches and three regions were inaccessible to rescue workers for some time. (PlanetArk)

Strong winds pushed Lake Erie up 9 feet at Buffalo last week, then the lake sloshed back to its normal position. But it was enough to suggest what weird things could happen if our climate goes berserk. (New York Times)

eMailbag: John from Indiana writes: “We had another winter tornado in Evansville this week. That is the third since 2003. Never had one before.”

Comment: Skeptics say cold and blizzards fly in the face of global warming. It’s the extremes, stupid – both wet and dry, and hot and cold. Unusual record-breaking weather events are predicted for the future, and to some extent the future is already here.

Extreme weather events were up in 2007

Xtreme Weather Watch: There was an increase in extreme weather events last year worldwide, mainly winds and floods, reflecting the threat posed by global warming, says the UN-backed Centre of Research on Disaster Epidemiology. Eight of the 10 worst disasters were in Asia, including Cyclone Sidr. Asia and West Africa are already having more severe and frequent floods, following predictions by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Weather disasters cost $62.5 billion in damages in 2007, up from $34 billion the year before. About 200 million people were affected, half of them in China. (PlanetArk)

Southern California was slammed by 7 days of snow and rain last week, stranding thousands of motorists in a mountain pass and causing power outages, avalanches and at least 1 tornado. Nearly a foot of snow fell in the Los Padres National Forest, northwest of LA, in the first of 2 back-to-back storms. In the second storm, this weekend, 2-4 inches of rain fell, raising the risk of mudslides in areas denuded by last year’s wildfires. Last Thursday more rain fell in one day than in the entire year in many places, but officials said they did not think it would do much to relieve a severe water shortage. (MercuryNews.com, LA Times, AP, North County Times, PlanetArk)

Severe winter storms, the worst in decades, swept across southern China late last week, killing at least 50, leaving cities without electricity, and halting travel for hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions. A half-million migrant workers, hoping to get home for Chinese New Year, camped outside the train station in Guangzhou for days, before most gave up. Hunan province had its heaviest snow in half a century. and more was expected. The extreme winter weather has so far caused $3 billion in losses, officials said.(AP)

Devastating floods in Mozambique displaced tens of thousands of people, engulfed farms and destroyed bridges and roads. The heavy rains started earlier than predicted and, with water levels already high, floods could turn out to be more severe than in 2000-01, which was the worst in memory for the African country. Helicopters and boats rescued about 60,000, mostly from roofs and trees, as another 7,000 awaited rescue last week. (PlanetArk)

For more on climate change and weather, check out the Forecast Earth blog at the Weather Channel, Weather.com.