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From floods that crippled countries, to mega cyclones, huge blizzards, killer tornadoes and famine-inducing droughts, 2011 has been another record-breaker for bad weather.

While it is too early to say what 2012 will bring, insurers and weather prediction agencies point to a clear trend: The world’s weather is becoming more extreme and more costly.

Global reinsurer Munich Re says natural catastrophe losses for the first nine months of 2011 totaled $310 billion, a record, with 80 percent of economic losses occurring in the Asia-Pacific region.

Since 1980, weather-related disasters globally have more than tripled. The United States set a record with 12 separate billion-dollar weather disasters in 2011, with an aggregate damage total of approximately $52 billion, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said this month.

The UN’s World Meteorological Organization said global temperatures in 2011 are currently the 10th highest on record, higher than any previous year with a La Nina event, which has a relative cooling influence. The 13 warmest years have all occurred in the 15 years since 1997.

The extent of Arctic sea ice in 2011 was the second lowest on record, and its volume was the lowest. Scientists say a warming atmosphere and more moisture in the air are providing fuel for weather systems, leading to more extremes. Rising levels of greenhouse gases from industry, transport and deforestation are providing that extra heat.

In January, record floods hit Australia’s east coast, killing 35 people, shutting coal mines, and wiping out roads and thousands of homes at a cost of more than $2 billion in insured losses. “Snowmageddon” was declared when heavy snows blanketed large parts of the United States including record falls in New York.

In February, Cyclone Yasi, one of the largest and most powerful storms ever to hit Australia, struck northern Queensland state, devastating sugar and banana crops. In the United States, a massive winter storm hit the Midwest and Northeast, causing travel chaos and power outages.

In May a tornado hit the US town of Joplin, killing about 160 people, the single deadliest US twister since 1947. Later that month, floods in the US Midwest and Mississippi River Valley inundated millions of acres, trimming corn and soy plantings.

In June, floods in China’s central and southern provinces killed more than 100 people and forced the evacuation of half a million.

In July, the worst drought in decades in the Horn of Africa triggered famine in Somalia and left 13 million people at risk of starvation in a crisis expected to last well into 2012.

Flooding between July and late November in Thailand killed more than 600, affected a third of the country, caused damage of at least $42 billion and inundated nearly 1,000 factories near Bangkok, disrupting auto and electronics global supply chains.

In August, Hurricane Irene killed at least 40 people in the eastern United States and triggered the worst flooding in decades in some states. Economic losses were estimated to top $10 billion.

In September, scores died in the worst flooding along the Mekong river since 2000.

In October, a rare early snowstorm in the US northeast left 1.6 million without power.

This month, tropical storm Washi hit the Philippine island of Mindanao, triggering flash floods and mudslides and killing more than 1,200 people.

A year-long drought in the US state of Texas has caused more than $5 billion in agricultural losses and triggered wildfires that burned 1.6 million hectares.

A La Nina event in the Pacific Ocean is expected to last well into 2012. The phenomenon is a cooling of waters in the central Pacific and has a global impact on weather. Forecasters expect it to bring above-average rains to northern and eastern Australia and more cyclones than normal during the Australian November-April storm season.

La Nina events also tend to strengthen the Atlantic hurricane season. Colorado State University researchers expect an above-average season if conditions that bring warmer than usual tropical water temperatures in the Atlantic continue and there is no major El Nino event.

El Nino is a warming of surface waters in the eastern and central Pacific, affecting wind patterns that can trigger droughts in Australia and suppress Atlantic hurricanes.

Reuters