:00:00. > :00:00.series looking back at 2013. It has been a year of weather extremes,
:00:00. > :00:16.from snow to cyclones, devastating wildfires and floods.
:00:17. > :00:37.I am Nick Miller and this is the BBC's weather review of the year.
:00:38. > :00:50.These swirling, vicious winds. 20,000 people are without power.
:00:51. > :00:55.In the UK it was the year that threatened never to warm up. Then it
:00:56. > :00:59.delivered a heatwave will stop in its closing months, deadly storms
:01:00. > :01:09.come with effects not seen for decades. -- deadly storms, with
:01:10. > :01:14.effects. Around the world we saw fire, flood, and the most deadly
:01:15. > :01:19.cyclone ever to hit land. At the BBC weather Centre we broadcast
:01:20. > :01:25.thousands of bulletins around the world. Whether touches all of our
:01:26. > :01:28.lives and in recent years we have seen some extreme and dramatic
:01:29. > :01:36.weather. 2013 has been no difference. We will be going month
:01:37. > :01:39.by month and showing how extreme weather still destroys lives. It is
:01:40. > :01:48.even possible for a weatherman to get caught in a storm. Yes, that was
:01:49. > :01:52.me. As the year began the forecast here was about something we fully
:01:53. > :01:57.don't understand, sudden stratospheric warming. A temperature
:01:58. > :02:02.change high in the atmosphere can produce something like this. This
:02:03. > :02:08.shows the extent of UK snow cover in January, the most widespread and
:02:09. > :02:14.prolonged since 2010. It has been talked about for days
:02:15. > :02:18.and this morning the snow arrived. The first heavy falls were over the
:02:19. > :02:22.hills of the North. On the border between Cumbria and County Durham
:02:23. > :02:27.the main job is to keep this busy road open, linking East and West.
:02:28. > :02:34.The return of severe winter weather and temperatures as low as -14
:02:35. > :02:38.degrees produced travel chaos. More of the country became smothered in
:02:39. > :02:45.white, enough to almost bury this pub on the North York Moors. You can
:02:46. > :02:53.still see quite a lot of snow. How long were you cut off for? Two full
:02:54. > :02:57.days, which is unusual for our pub! As the snow spread across the rest
:02:58. > :03:02.of the UK, few areas were left untouched. With the snow comes the
:03:03. > :03:14.desire to conquer the elements but at going co-tragedy struck. -- Glen
:03:15. > :03:19.Coe. Four climbers were killed in an avalanche. In the rest of the UK the
:03:20. > :03:24.weather remained cold and was set to stay that way for several months. As
:03:25. > :03:27.we froze, in Australia were coming to the end of a summer like no
:03:28. > :03:34.other. They called it the angry summer.
:03:35. > :03:39.Bush fires spread across south-east Australia, the result of the hottest
:03:40. > :03:46.summer on record and the driest in a quarter of a century. Close to the
:03:47. > :03:49.fire front you get a sense of the conditions the firefighters are
:03:50. > :03:55.dealing with, these swirling, vicious winds, soaring temperatures,
:03:56. > :03:57.45 degrees, and at the moment there has been a sudden change in the
:03:58. > :04:05.wind, making this fire very unpredictable. The fires were at
:04:06. > :04:09.their worst in Tasmania. This town took a direct hit, with more than 60
:04:10. > :04:15.properties destroyed, including the school. The fires finally subsided
:04:16. > :04:18.by the end of the month but in Queens land they went from one
:04:19. > :04:25.extreme to the other. Heat gave way to floods. The waters reached
:04:26. > :04:32.Brisbane, with many low-lying streets underwater. In the seaside
:04:33. > :04:39.town of Alexander headlined, winds turned the surf into foam. It looked
:04:40. > :04:48.more like the aftermath of a snowstorm. Over in the USA this was
:04:49. > :04:56.the real thing, a massive lizard hitting the eastern seaboard in
:04:57. > :05:01.February. -- lizard. Snow for -- snow piled up and millions were
:05:02. > :05:05.warned to stay indoors. Once the storm passed, those who ventured
:05:06. > :05:18.into Central Park in New York found a winter wonderland and there was
:05:19. > :05:22.only one thing to do. Although March wrought the arrival of spring, in
:05:23. > :05:30.the UK spring weather was nowhere to be seen. -- brought the arrival.
:05:31. > :05:34.Everybody here has one simple question, why is it so cold in the
:05:35. > :05:39.week before Easter? Easterly wind are dragging cold air to the UK from
:05:40. > :05:44.northern Europe and Russia but many think the weather is becoming more
:05:45. > :05:50.unpredictable. The Channel Islands were hit by heavy snow, the worst in
:05:51. > :05:55.March since the 1960s. As the months went on the snow spread north and
:05:56. > :05:59.west, smothering the Isle of Man, the worst in half a century, and
:06:00. > :06:04.there were frantic attempts to save livestock. Over role in the UK it is
:06:05. > :06:14.thought the snow killed more than 20,000 sheep and cattle. --
:06:15. > :06:18.overruled. A lucky few were rescued. This is our livelihood, we have
:06:19. > :06:22.nothing else. Once the sheep are gone and that is it. In Northern
:06:23. > :06:28.Ireland more than 100,000 people were left without power, some for
:06:29. > :06:37.several days, as snow and ice brought their own power lines. --
:06:38. > :06:42.brought down. On the Isle of Arran the community were cut off and
:06:43. > :06:47.feeling the cold. The snow reached 30 to 40 centimetres on high ground
:06:48. > :06:54.and was to last for several days before a thaw set in. It was the
:06:55. > :06:58.coldest March since 1962, the coldest Easter day on record, and
:06:59. > :07:10.anybody hoping the forecast would soon take on a more springlike tone
:07:11. > :07:14.would he made to wait, and wait. April was another colder than normal
:07:15. > :07:21.month but it was not just the UK suffering. This was Spain in late
:07:22. > :07:26.April. With snow and heavy rain producing weather warnings across 18
:07:27. > :07:35.provinces. It is not just the rain in Spain that falls mainly on the
:07:36. > :07:43.plane. If you are venturing out across the southern half of the UK,
:07:44. > :07:46.good luck. Anybody hoping for brighter sky in May was still
:07:47. > :07:54.sheltering under umbrellas and there was even more snow, this in
:07:55. > :08:00.Shropshire, to do -- two weeks after Mayday. It had been the coldest
:08:01. > :08:03.spring more than 50 years. Normally much wilder weather comes in from
:08:04. > :08:09.the Atlantic. -- milder. We have seen persistent colder weather
:08:10. > :08:14.coming in from the continent. In April in London we had a daytime
:08:15. > :08:20.temperature of two degrees, which we normally don't often get in bleak
:08:21. > :08:27.midwinter. In May we had snow across parts, which shows how cold this
:08:28. > :08:30.spring has been. While our headlines were covering big UK cold, across
:08:31. > :08:34.the Atlantic 's bring was delivering weather which could destroy
:08:35. > :08:44.everything in a few minutes in utter -- of utter hell.
:08:45. > :08:48.Good evening, our main story is the aftermath of the tornado in
:08:49. > :08:57.Oklahoma. Rescue teams are using bulldozers and sledgehammers to try
:08:58. > :09:00.to reach survivors as President Obama is -- describes it as one of
:09:01. > :09:05.the most destructive storms in the nation's history.
:09:06. > :09:10.This is the moment the tornado struck, a terrifying force of
:09:11. > :09:16.nature. It touched town just south of Oklahoma City and began its 14
:09:17. > :09:26.minute path of destruction. That is a big, big tornado. It levelled a
:09:27. > :09:32.neighbourhood, with 200 mph winds. This is warzone terrible. This town
:09:33. > :09:38.in Oklahoma was in the bull's-eye of one of the most terrible storms
:09:39. > :09:41.nature can produce. The tornado levelled nearly everything in its
:09:42. > :09:49.path, killed 23 and injured hundreds. At its peak, wind speeds
:09:50. > :09:55.were estimated to reach over 200 mph. It is difficult to whether wind
:09:56. > :10:02.so severe and a local primary school felt its full force. The warning had
:10:03. > :10:06.not come quickly enough to get everybody out safely before the
:10:07. > :10:13.storm hit. You are watching the BBC's review of
:10:14. > :10:17.the year. Presenters like me stand here day after day bringing news
:10:18. > :10:21.good and bad. We are about to forecast something for the UK we had
:10:22. > :10:35.no longer dared to dream of, proper summer weather.
:10:36. > :10:40.No, not this hot. The UK still had to make it through a cool June. This
:10:41. > :10:44.was death Valley California, which not stop the highest June
:10:45. > :10:51.temperature ever recorded, a searing 54 Celsius. In the Canadian province
:10:52. > :10:58.of Alberta, summer began with rain, incessant rain. Swollen rivers
:10:59. > :11:03.flowing down from the Rocky Mountains engulfed the city of
:11:04. > :11:12.Calgary, leading to one of the costliest natural disasters in
:11:13. > :11:17.Canadian history. In India, in summer they expect rain, monsoon
:11:18. > :11:20.rain, but this year it was the heaviest in 80 years and started
:11:21. > :11:26.early in the north of the country with devastating consequences.
:11:27. > :11:32.Entire communities were washed away in raging floodwaters, with the
:11:33. > :11:38.number of those missing presumed dead in one state alone rising into
:11:39. > :11:41.the thousands. In the UK, still no sign of summer, and experts came
:11:42. > :11:49.together at the Met Office to try to shed light on why the UK had enjoyed
:11:50. > :11:55.a run of X -- weather extremes, drought, summer floods and a cold
:11:56. > :12:00.spring. They looked at many theories as to why the jet stream that Spears
:12:01. > :12:05.weather systems across the UK has been displaced but answers are hard
:12:06. > :12:12.to find. At the moment we really can't say. It is disappointing for
:12:13. > :12:14.you and for scientists to have this uncertainty but I want to emphasise
:12:15. > :12:19.that in order to address that question we need to know what is
:12:20. > :12:23.loading the dice for the position of the jet stream, then we can begin to
:12:24. > :12:29.investigate how that loading of the dice might change under a changing
:12:30. > :12:31.climate. When we thought all hope was lost, in July there was the
:12:32. > :13:08.return of a long lost friend. I cannot remember the last time we
:13:09. > :13:16.had a summer like this. Being able to sit up doors. It was our longest
:13:17. > :13:22.heat wave in seven years. But prolonged hot weather is dangerous.
:13:23. > :13:29.But many people just celebrated the return of summer. We have had eight
:13:30. > :13:36.months of awful winter and six years of bad summers. Enjoy. As we
:13:37. > :13:39.revelled in the heat, in the USA others paid the ultimate price for
:13:40. > :13:48.fighting the worst effects of heat -- fire. What we do know is that 19
:13:49. > :13:54.firefighters were killed in probably the worst disaster that has taken
:13:55. > :14:02.place here in the state of Arizona. And a public tic seen. --
:14:03. > :14:07.apocalyptic scene. The firefighters were caught by a sudden change of
:14:08. > :14:13.wind, with devastating consequences. They were part of what is called the
:14:14. > :14:24.Granite Mountain Hotshot team. The average age of those killed was 22.
:14:25. > :14:30.As autumn began, weather lost extremes of summer. It was quite a
:14:31. > :14:36.typical September in the UK. But meteorologists still needed to busy
:14:37. > :14:41.their minds with something and this question got us talking. How can
:14:42. > :14:46.heavy snow caused a volcano to abrupt? High in the Peruvian Andes a
:14:47. > :14:51.group of research scientists had to run for cover as the volcano burst
:14:52. > :14:55.into life. Peter Gibbs reported that it was down to unusually heavy
:14:56. > :15:02.snowfall. Snow has been piling up, seven inches deep across the top of
:15:03. > :15:07.the volcano. We have some pretty hot rock in there so that snow melted
:15:08. > :15:14.and seeped down fisheries in the rock. When it hit that heat, the
:15:15. > :15:20.centre of the volcano, it is like when you pour water on to the hot
:15:21. > :15:30.coals in the sauna. That pressure produces then an explosion, and
:15:31. > :15:34.corruption. -- and eruption. Also in September are changing climate was
:15:35. > :15:39.the focus of a major report from the United Nations climate panel. Its
:15:40. > :15:45.language was unequivocal. Today's conclusions were dramatic. The
:15:46. > :15:49.language was clear. The atmosphere and oceans have warned. Snow and ice
:15:50. > :15:55.have diminished. Sea level has risen. It is 95% certain that humans
:15:56. > :16:02.are the dominant cause, the scientists say. The findings were
:16:03. > :16:07.presented today after thousands of scientific reports were studied,
:16:08. > :16:13.presented with a warning. Climate change is the greatest challenge of
:16:14. > :16:18.our time. The panel estimates that the climate will warm but least two
:16:19. > :16:21.Celsius by the end of this century. But there are sceptics will remain
:16:22. > :16:36.doubtful that these computer predictions are correct.
:16:37. > :16:39.The 2013 Atlanta hurricane season defied all forecasts. It was the
:16:40. > :16:43.first in almost 20 years without a major hurricane. But spin the globe
:16:44. > :16:48.and other parts of the world were not so lucky. In October a cyclone
:16:49. > :16:55.was bearing down on India. A powerful storm, matched by the power
:16:56. > :17:06.of preparation. Evacuations began early and although the volcano
:17:07. > :17:13.equalled powerful cyclones that had brought destruction before, many
:17:14. > :17:18.people were taken out of harm's way. Lives had been saved but the
:17:19. > :17:25.destruction was widespread. The devastation continued for mile after
:17:26. > :17:30.mile. We drove out to coastal villages where the cyclone first hit
:17:31. > :17:35.land. Many of the tens of thousands evacuated before the storm had begun
:17:36. > :17:42.returning home. For some it has been a grim homecoming. This woman
:17:43. > :17:50.survived the last cyclone but now her tiny home is in ruins. Last time
:17:51. > :17:58.there was not much damage. Now my home is broken and everything is
:17:59. > :18:02.gone. I have got nothing to eat. Meanwhile in Australia, fires were
:18:03. > :18:06.raging again. This time in the Blue Mountains. The product of the
:18:07. > :18:12.hottest September on record. Sydney was also affect that with this eerie
:18:13. > :18:16.sight of the skyline darkened by plumes of smoke. Locals said these
:18:17. > :18:22.were the worst fires here since the 1960s. At the end of October,
:18:23. > :18:27.attention turned back to the UK and the storm that would evoke memories
:18:28. > :18:31.of 1987. Earlier on a woman rang the BBC and said she heard there was a
:18:32. > :18:37.hurricane on the way. If you're watching, do not worry, there is
:18:38. > :18:42.not. Scientific advances meant that this storm was tracked days in
:18:43. > :18:47.advance. No one could have escaped the Met Office warnings that this
:18:48. > :18:52.storm was coming. There is a big storm heading our way, set to arrive
:18:53. > :18:58.on Sunday night. It will last until Monday morning. Warnings have been
:18:59. > :19:07.issued especially because of the strength of the wind.
:19:08. > :19:12.It was at this station early in the morning that I felt the full force
:19:13. > :19:17.of the storm. I was trying to get home after a night shift. I tried to
:19:18. > :19:23.out run the storm but instead was caught in the middle of it. I had to
:19:24. > :19:28.shelter underneath this railway bridge, humbled by the power of
:19:29. > :19:33.nature. As predicted, the channel facing seaside towns and cities were
:19:34. > :19:36.the first to face the wind as it held in from the West.
:19:37. > :19:43.In this case the calm waters of Brighton Marina encircled by the
:19:44. > :19:51.white horses of a treacherous tide. Recorded wind speeds steadily
:19:52. > :19:57.increased. 70, 90 miles an hour. The the storm took at least 17 miles and
:19:58. > :20:01.cut a swathe across northern Europe. Without the early forecast it could
:20:02. > :20:07.have been much worse. The storm, done with the UK, moved on to ravage
:20:08. > :20:13.Western Europe. Powering into the Danish coast, closing the road
:20:14. > :20:18.linked to Sweden. The wind here were up to 120 miles an hour. They ripped
:20:19. > :20:31.apart the metal scaffolding on this building in Copenhagen.
:20:32. > :20:35.The winds sliced through Brussels. And Amsterdam, where along the
:20:36. > :20:40.canals it was the trees being uprooted by wind is not felt in over
:20:41. > :20:44.20 years. But it was not long before another storm made the headlines.
:20:45. > :20:52.This was also well forecast but was so powerful and destructive that
:20:53. > :21:00.everyone's West fears came true. -- worst fears. One of the most
:21:01. > :21:13.powerful storms ever recorded hits the Philippines. This was Typhoon
:21:14. > :21:19.Haiyan, with wins at almost 200 miles an hour. And storm surge that
:21:20. > :21:24.swept floods inland. This typhoon was the deadliest in the history of
:21:25. > :21:30.the Philippines, killing nearly 6000 people.
:21:31. > :21:35.Like all tropical storms began with a loose cluster of thunderclouds.
:21:36. > :21:39.Nothing unusual. But these quickly merged together to form a single
:21:40. > :21:45.weather system which started rotating, pulling air up into its
:21:46. > :21:51.centre. The storm stretched over 300 miles. By now it was the typhoon.
:21:52. > :21:55.And heat rising from the warm ocean kept adding to its strength. Higher
:21:56. > :22:00.temperatures mean more energy. This meant that in the eye of the storm
:22:01. > :22:04.and around it the wind kept accelerating, intense low-pressure
:22:05. > :22:10.also lifted the sea surface to create as dawn surge, another source
:22:11. > :22:14.of danger. For anyone in its path only the strongest shelter would
:22:15. > :22:18.help them survive. Maybe 80, 90% of the buildings along
:22:19. > :22:23.the coast here have lost their roofs. So even if buildings have
:22:24. > :22:28.survived people are effectively living in the open. And the other
:22:29. > :22:33.big thing is food. This line stretches for hundreds of metres in
:22:34. > :22:39.both directions. The big issue now is that people have lost all of
:22:40. > :22:44.their food. Their rice was damaged in the storm. It is now day five,
:22:45. > :22:48.supplies are running out. There is still a sense that aid is not
:22:49. > :22:53.getting through. At the airport planes are coming in but we do not
:22:54. > :23:04.see any of it here. Aid efforts continue in the Philippines with
:23:05. > :23:07.many thousands still homeless. Up in the north-west Highlands we
:23:08. > :23:13.have around 20,000 people without power. A lot of fallen trees have
:23:14. > :23:20.fallen on power lines causing difficulties for engineers. Things
:23:21. > :23:26.are going to be back up and running but conditions are difficult.
:23:27. > :23:30.Instead of snow, the first month of winter brought storm after storm as
:23:31. > :23:35.the year came to an end. The first, early in the month,
:23:36. > :23:39.battered Scotland and the north of England with wind up to 100 miles an
:23:40. > :23:44.hour, killing two people and then producing something on a scale
:23:45. > :23:49.unseen since 1953. The sea whipped up by storm forced wind combined
:23:50. > :23:57.with high tides first studied parts of the North were dashed the North
:23:58. > :24:03.Wales coast. Many people had to leave their homes. Next it was the
:24:04. > :24:09.North Sea coast of England. Thousands were evacuated from their
:24:10. > :24:17.homes. In Norfolk, for good reason as three clifftop homes were swept
:24:18. > :24:27.away. We could actually see the kitchen fold. The floorboards folded
:24:28. > :24:32.up. The surge had been a major test of flood defences. Many built since
:24:33. > :24:38.the tragedy of the 1953 surge which killed more than 300 in the UK. Some
:24:39. > :24:41.failed but most did not ensuring the safety of the people and property
:24:42. > :24:45.they protect. But one of the most memorable images
:24:46. > :24:50.came not from land or sea but from the air. Not many of us would swap
:24:51. > :24:59.faces with the passengers on this plane, trying to land at Birmingham
:25:00. > :25:03.at the height of the storm. That is what I call a bumpy ride.
:25:04. > :25:07.And that was a year of weather. Wondering what is coming up next
:25:08. > :25:25.year with Mike keep watching the forecast. -- coming up next year?
:25:26. > :25:32.We should get a breather from the bad weather over the next couple of
:25:33. > :25:36.days but we have to be on guard for the rest of the week as more stormy
:25:37. > :25:41.weather is looming. Tonight there are signs that the storm is easing.