Weather gets weird throughout the U.S.
By Brian K. Sullivan, Bloomberg
Texas struggled through its driest year in history in 2011. Four years later was its wettest ever.
The Mississippi River rose to all-time-high flood levels in 2011. In 2012, its second-lowest.
After a five-year drought that made agricultural irrigation a political hot potato, Northern California experienced nearly double the normal rainfall this year, beating the old mark set in 1983.
As the planet warms, a less ballyhooed new normal is emerging in weather extremes. With deluge following dust, the record book is becoming increasingly difficult to rely on for those who study the weather. The seesaw from one record to its opposite also has problematic implications for water management, storm preparedness and even national security.
