Every region of the US suffered record-breaking extreme weather in 2020(Source Business Insider)

While the coronavirus sickened more than 78 million people this year, another rolling disaster was unleashing new terrors in the background. Its effects seeped into thousands of lungs and turned skies red. Dams burst and forests burned. Homes toppled and flood after flood of ocean water inundated coastal towns. The climate crisis surged to new heights in 2020. In the US, no region was spared. A polar vortex brought record-breaking temperature lows to the Northeast, and heat waves brought new highs to the West. That heat dried out the landscape, which later fed an unprecedented wave of wildfires in late summer. On the other side of the US, a stunning hurricane season battered the Gulf Coast and the Southeast with more powerful cyclones than any previous year on record. The center of the country, meanwhile, endured record storms, floods, and tornado swarms. Research has shown that the changing climate is contributing to stronger hurricanes, more severe heat waves, larger and more destructive wildfires, and heavier rainfall that can cause flooding. Rising temperatures could even be driving more severe thunderstorms and tornado outbreaks. This year, the US saw it all.