PBS Special on Extreme Weather and Climate Change

Watch How 2011 Became a 'Mind-Boggling' Year of Extreme Weather on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

PBS deserves a special mention for producing a segment looking at how global warming is influencing extreme weather events. Jeff Masters, co-founder of the Weather Underground, explained : 

“In one year, we had three of the most remarkable extreme weather events in history of the U.S.

I mean, we talk about the Dust Bowl summer of 1936. Well, this summer pretty much matched that for temperature, almost the hottest summer in U.S. history. We also talk about the great 1974 tornado outbreak. Well, we had an outbreak that more than doubled the total of tornadoes we had during that iconic outbreak. And, also, we talk about the great 1927 flood on the Mississippi River. Well, the flood heights were even higher than that flood this year.

So, it just boggles my mind that we had three extreme weather events that matched those events in U.S. history.”