A year of extreme weather in the American west – in pictures

Droughts, wildfires, bomb cyclones: it was a year of extremes - and scientists say it's a likely taste of what's to come

Even before summer heatwaves sent temperatures soaring across the west, lakebeds had already begun ceding ground to the cracked, dried earth.

Rings showed around reservoirs where water levels fell to historic lows, verdant hillsides took on brown hues, and trees became tinder in forests primed to burn. The conditions fueled unstoppable fires that grew large and ferocious enough to create their own weather patterns.

But along with the desiccation, there were downpours. Even as states grappled with the effects of a devastating drought, storms delivered heavy rains that caused floods and damaging debris flows.

Houseboats sit in a narrow section of water in a depleted Lake Oroville.