2023 in photos: Extreme climate

Ice covers communication towers as massive amounts of snow trap residents of mountain towns in San Bernadino County, Crestline, California, U.S. March 2, 2023. REUTERS/David Swanson

(Reuters) - Extreme weather featured in headlines frequently in 2023. Drought dried up lakes, record heat sparked wildfires, rains turned streets into rivers, and deadly storms wiped out entire towns.

In early 2023, California experienced an unusually wet, snowy winter, drenching the state and causing mudslides that left some homes precariously balanced on cliffsides, while in the Southern Hemisphere scorching temperatures fanned wildfires in Chile.