January 6, 2014: Ice builds up along Lake Michigan at North Avenue Beach in Chicago, Illinois, as a polar vortex resulted in the coldest temperatures in decadesScott Olson/Getty ImagesJanuary 8, 2014: The US side of Niagara Falls is partially frozen as the so-called polar vortex tightened its grip on North America, breaking low temperature recordsAaron Harris/ReutersJanuary 16, 2014: Bolts of lightning play around the statue of Christ the Redeemer on top of Corcovado hill in Rio de Janeiro, BrazilYasuyoshi Chiba/AFPFebruary 1, 2014: A giant cloud of hot volcanic ash engulfs villages in Karo district during the eruption of Mount Sinabung volcano, located on Indonesia's Sumatra islandSutanta Aditya/AFPFebruary 3, 2014: A man with a shovel looks at a car completely encased in ice in Postojna, SloveniaSrdjan Zivulovic/ReutersFebruary 10, 2014: Workers build flood defences around a house in the flooded village of Moorland near Bridgwater on the Somerset LevelsMatt Cardy/Getty ImagesFebruary 16, 2014: Houses in Staines-upon-Thames are inundated with flood water after the River Thames burst its banksPeter Macdiarmid/Getty ImagesMarch 5, 2014: A large dark storm cloud covers the Sydney central business districtCassie Trotter/Getty ImagesApril 3, 2014: People walk underneath flowering cherry trees on a street in Bonn, GermanyRolf Vennenbernd/AFPApril 12, 2014: An enormous fire rages through the Chilean city of Valparaiso, destroying at least 2,500 homes, and leaving 11,000 people homelessAlberto Miranda/AFPApril 28, 2014: A US flag sticks out the window of a damaged hot rod car after a severe tornado destroyed much of the town of Vilonia in ArkansasCarlo Allegri/ReutersMay 3, 2014: People visit "The Gateway to Hell" – a huge burning gas crater in Turkmenistan's Karakum desert. In 1971 Soviet scientists drilled into an underground cavern and a deep sinkhole formed. Fearing that the crater would emit poisonous gases, they set it alight, thinking that the gas would burn out quickly. But the flames have not gone out in more than 40 yearsIgor Sasin/AFPMay 19, 2014: An aerial view shows the flooded town of Obrenovac in northern Serbia during the worst floods in more than a centuryAlexa Stankovic/AFPJuly 2, 2014: Lightning strikes One World Trade Center in Manhattan as the sun sets behind the city after a summer stormLucas Jackson/ReutersJuly 8, 2014: European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst took this photo of Super Typhoon Neoguri from the International Space Station. "I have never seen anything like it," he marvelled, "Watch out Japan!"Alexander Gerst/ESA/NasaJuly 12, 2014: The Supermoon rises over houses in Olvera, in the southern Spanish province of Cadiz. Occurring when a full moon coincides with the closest approach the moon makes to the Earth, the Supermoon results in a larger-than-usual appearanceJon Nazca/ReutersAugust 13, 2014: Visitors run away as waves caused by a tidal bore surge past a barrier on the banks of Qiantang River, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, ChinaReutersAugust 29, 2014: The Northern Lights are captured in this photo taken by European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst on the International Space StationAlexander Gerst/ESA/NasaSeptember 11, 2014: Pigs are seen trapped in a partially submerged pig pen after heavy rainfall hit Youyang county of Chongqing municipality, ChinaReutersSeptember 14, 2014: A plane flies over the Bardarbunga volcano in southeast Iceland as it spews lava and smokeBernard Meric/AFPSeptember 17, 2014: A firefighter battling the King Fire sprays water on a backfire in Fresh Pond, CaliforniaNoah Berger/ReutersSeptember 23, 2014: A Virginia Creeper covering a 15th-century cottage housing a tearoom turns copper red as Autumn arrives in Llanrwst, North WalesRebecca Naden/ReutersSeptember 28, 2014: Japanese soldiers and firefighters conduct rescue operations at mountain lodges covered with volcanic ash, on Mt OntakeKyodo/ReutersSeptember 30, 2014: The Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) shimmer in the sky over a mountain camp near the Norwegian village of Mestervik, north of the Arctic CircleYannis Behrakis/ReutersOctober 8, 2014: Mount Sinabung volcano erupts, as seen from Tiga Pancur village, Karo Regency in Indonesia's North Sumatra provinceYT Haryono/ReutersOctober 8, 2014: Active regions on the sun combine to look like the carved face of a Jack O'Lantern, as Halloween approachesNasa/ReutersNovember 10, 2014: A rainbow arches over Tower Bridge, with one end seemingly in the Tower of LondonPaul Gilham/Getty ImagesNovember 18, 2014: Storm clouds heap snow on Lake Erie in Buffalo, New York, where an autumn blizzard dumped a year's worth of snow in three daysLindsay DeDario/ReutersDecember 3, 2014: A bench is covered in ice on Buda Hills in Budapest, as freezing rain blanketed the areaBernadett Szabo/ReutersDecember 12, 2014: Homes are covered with rocks and mud after a powerful storm lashed Camarillo in CaliforniaDavid McNew/Getty ImagesNovember 9, 2014: A member of an expedition group stands on the edge of a newly formed crater on the Yamal Peninsula, northern Siberia. Scientists have not come to a consensus about the origin of the huge crater yetVladimir Pushkarev/Russian Centre of Arctic Exploration/Reuters
