National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Monday, November 23, 2009

Photo: "Oddball" Weather Events Add to Record-Breaking 2007


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An Indonesian woman rides on a tricycle to cross a flooded street in north Jakarta, Indonesia, on Friday, December 21, 2007.

The Indonesian capital was flooded on numerous occasions in 2007 with some of the most extreme tides ever.

In addition to clocking some of the highest temperatures ever recorded, scientists note that some extremely strange weather events also took place in 2007.

A tornado struck New York City in August, inspiring the tabloid headline: "This ain't Kansas!"

In the Middle East, an equally rare cyclone spun up in June, hitting Oman and Iran.

Major U.S. lakes shrank, and Atlanta worried about its drinking water supply.

South Africa got its first significant snowfall in 25 years. And on Reunion Island, 400 miles (645 kilometers) east of Africa, nearly 155 inches (4 meters) of rain fell in three days—a world record for the most rain in 72 hours.

Photograph by Tatan Syuflana/AP