The record breaking, deadly cold snap continued this week, raising the death toll in Romania to 79.  The same system has driven the death toll in Ukraine up to 151, and is causing devastating economic losses in Serbia.

Rain has finally been falling in southern states, While this lifted drought conditions for much of Texas, 20% of the state is still experiencing drought conditions, and the rainfall is still below average.  However, key crop producing states in the southeast are now in drought.  Some southeastern states received a dumping of snow, uncharacteristic of this mild winter in North America.  Power was knocked out to several homes in Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and Tennessee.

Several people were killed in eastern Europe this week as a snowstorm and brutal cold have gripped the region.  The death toll in Serbia has risen to nine, and totals more than 250 across Europe, many of those homeless.  About 20% of the country has declared a state of emergency.  It is highly unusual to see this cold of weather in eastern Europe.  In Colorado and Nebraska, a storm covered large swaths and knocked out power to 15,000 customers initially, but later that day only 10,000.  As of yet, no deaths have been reported here.

While winters have been unusually harsh in Europe, the US is seeing very little snow  at all.a  This is a huge problem for ski resorts, who as our correspondent have had to rely on manufactured “snow.”  The significant lack of snow can also cause difficulties for farmers planting in the spring.  Meanwhile, Dallas, Texas is no longer in drought, but are not yet out of the woods.

Three people have died in Serbia this week due to extreme cold and snowfall.  The same system blanketed large swaths of central and eastern Europe with snow as well. The system is blamed for an additional death near Bucharest. Near record cold has hit Alaska, with temperatures hovering around -62ºF (-52ºC).  Meanwhile, temperatures in Brooklyn, New York are unseasonably warm, causing the usual winter festival there to be cancelled.  In California, wet weather caused traffic chaos.

Continuing drought in Texas, despite a recent spate of tornados and associated flooding, is forcing cattle to migrate north.  Tornadoes in winter months are exceedingly rare, though as we have reported they have been occurring throughout the month of January.  Additionally, six people lost their lives and hundreds more lost their homes in Fiji, due to landslides and flooding there.

This week started off with another rash of winter tornadoes, injuring two people and damaging mobile homes and picking up and throwing two tractor trailers.  A tornado in Alabama also killed two people.  An Oregon winter storm left 30,000 residents in the dark.  The resulting flooding caused the deaths of a mother and her baby.  The same storm system resulted in over 250,000 residents of Washington losing power, with temperatures there hovering just above freezing.  In Serbia, conditions showed little improvement.  Surdulica, a town there lost most of its road access.

Tornadoes in the winter months, though not unprecedented are nevertheless rare.  However, this likely comes as little comfort to the 15 people injured and the 56 people whose homes have been damaged by the F2 storm that hit Raleigh, NC this week.  The tornado was likely able to form because temperatures in the region have been about 10ºF higher than average.

Australia is also dealing with unusually high temperatures, which are affecting the Australian Open tournament.  In Alaska, severe weather is keeping people cold, with fuel delayed from reaching certain areas.  A fierce blast of wintery weather in Serbia is causing schools to delay their start date for the winter term, and has interrupted power to over 200 residents.

Record breaking highs in North Dakota threaten further droughts.  The high was (20ºC) higher than normal or (32ºF)*.  Heatwaves in Chile and Australia are blamed for sparking spot fires.  All of this is on the heels of Florida nearly losing its orange crop this year due to unseasonable cold, with temperatures dipping to below 8.9ºC (48ºF).  In Nome, Alaska, due to an earlier storm, ice breakers carrying much needed fuel are only now breaking through. In Serbia, heavy blizzards caused traffic chaos, closing more than 500km (310 miles) of roads and dumping about 3m (10ft) in some drifts.

In Brazil, heavy rain causing mudslides and floods killed at least eight people.

* Note that this was not calculated using the conversion formula which is why the Celsius value does not correlate with the Fahrenheit value.

In Canada, weather was so cold in Montreal that boiling water froze in midair.  A week before the Joplin tornado, Slave Lake, Alberta was decimated  by wildfires. In July, a tornado touched down in Calgary.  On November 29, unprecedented winds shut down the downtown core and nearly caused a 747 to crash on landing.  Overly warm weather two days before the year’s end killed a Canadian skier.

Heatwaves were prominent all over Europe and much of North America in the summer months, while drought ravaged has ravaged the Balkans since November, causing trade disruptions and crop problems.  Drought has also devastated Afghanistan, East Africa, Kenya, and several other regions.  In East Africa, the situation was so bad that residents had to choose between letting elephants or livestock die.

Too much water, responsible for flooding and landslides have lain waste to many regions.  Columbia saw the worst flooding in its history in April.  In the same month, Canadian troops were secured to aid in cleaning up the Montreal, Quebec floods.  The deluge that hit Thailand is so severe that hard drive production took a serious downturn and it caused the deaths of more than 500 people.  The hard drive shortage is expected to last into 2013.  Cyclones caused chaos in several regions, dealing floods to Queensland, Australia, no fewer than 11 deaths in India.  Typhoons brought thousands of lives to an end in the Philippines, Japan, and Taiwan just to name a few.

Landslides and floods, most of which were triggered by typhoons and cyclones, wiped out large tracts in Central America and claimed over 110 lives.  Twenty-four people were killed in Uganda on August 29, and in Seoul, 67 people died.  Furthermore, there are now 10 unexploded landmines unaccounted for there.

This is just a brief summary of all the inclement weather we saw over 2011.  For more complete lists of events, we have placed links to search pages on our site:  floods, landslides, cyclones, typhoons, heat waves, drought, blizzard, tornado.  Don’t forget to look at wild fires and hurricanes too.

In India, this week, 93 people are confirmed dead due to a recent cold snap.  Northern parts of India felt the mercury dip below 0ºF (-17.7ºC).  We know of no other severe weather events that have transpired this week, but if you do, please email links to executive@tgwf.org.

A tragic storm in the Philippines swept away nearly 1000 people last Tuesday. In addition to all the lives lost, about $184000 in corn and rice were also lost. Strong winds in Serbia damaged important buildings That storm uprooted trees which shut down roads and caused power disruptions in the region. Severe weather may have also played a role in a deadly plane crash, claiming five lives. The crash happened at around 11:00 EST, as the plane was heading to Waco, Texas.

This week was one of those extremely rare weeks where there is very little to report.  The only major event that has come to our attention are severe winds in southern California, which had initially left hundreds of thousands of people without power.  Winds were clocked at  97mph (161 km/h.)  While the Santa Ana winds are not a surprise, their speed is.  The winds caused $97,000 in Glendora, resulting in the declaration of a “state of emergency.”