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The Best Weather Photos of 2016

TIME looks back on this year's most striking weather photos, from the beautiful to the extreme

From hurricanes and blizzards to blistering hot days and massive tornadoes, 2016 offered weather photographs ranging from the devastating to the surprisingly beautiful.

Hurricane Matthew left a path of destruction from the Caribbean to the Southeast U.S. Dry conditions mixed with breezy winds and blistering hot temperatures led to severely destructive wildfires in California, with flames blazing across thousands of acres of land, destroying homes and forests.

Despite some of the devastation we have faced, there were still moments that brought joy and beauty. From cooling off in a fountain on a hot day to building a snowman in the middle of Times Square in New York City, TIME takes a look back at the most memorable moments in weather from this year.

Storm clouds dramatically illuminated by the setting sun on a corn field in Petersdorf, Germany, Aug. 21, 2016. Volcanic lightning is seen at an eruption of Mount Sakurajima, in this photo taken from Tarumizu city, Kagoshima prefecture, southwestern Japan, on Feb. 5, 2016. APTOPIX Hurricane Matthew North Carolina TOPSHOT-US-WEATHER-FIRES-CALIFORNIA Autumnal colored landscape in Cologne, Germany, on Nov. 4, 2016 People watch the flooded Jinsha River at a sightseeing platform in Tiger Leaping Gorge, in Diqing, Yunnan Province, China, July 15, 2016. GERMANY-WEATHER-ENERGY-AUTUMN A meteorite-shaped cloud floats in the sky at nightfall in Beijing, China, on March 7, 2016. Protests Continue At Standing Rock Sioux Reservation Over Dakota Pipeline Access Project A general view of Tower Bridge and the city through the fog, seen from The View From The Shard in London, on Oct. 31, 2016. APTOPIX Deep South-Severe Weather High winds blowing off the North Sea force rainwater from fields back over the cliff edge at Huntcliff in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, England, on Jan. 14, 2016. TOPSHOT-HAITI-DISASTER A tornado near Wynnewood, Oklahoma, May 9, 2016. The dried and cracked river beach of the Yangtze River in Yunyang county in Chongqing, China. The Chongqing weather station issued a red alert for high temperatures for 12 consecutive days from Aug. 14 to Aug. 24, 2016. TOPSHOT-HAITI-CARIBBEAN-WEATHER-HURRICANE Snow covers the landscape near Braunschweig, central Germany, on Jan. 18, 2016. APTOPIX Severe Weather Storm chasing photographers underneath a rotating supercell storm system in Maxwell, Nebraska on Sept. 3, 2016. A woman decorates a snowman in Times Square as all cars but emergency vehicles are banned from driving on the road in New York City on Jan. 23, 2016. An approaching storm looming over the French riviera city of Nice, in southeastern France, July 14, 2016. TOPSHOT-US-WEATHER-HEAT When the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 captured this image of Heard Island, just the tip of Mawson Peak—the highest point on the island—was visible through the sheet of marine stratocumulus clouds swirling over this part of the Furious Fifties. Though just 2,745 meters (9,006 feet), the mountain was tall enough to stir up several cloud vortices that swirled downwind like eddies in a fast-moving river, May 3, 2016. Tourists watch high waves of the Pacific Ocean pounding the coast in Vina del Mar city, Chile Jan. 25, 2016. Lightning strikes behind wind turbines during a thunderstorm in Goerlitz, Germany, on Aug. 28, 2016. Waves crash over Newhaven Lighthouse on the south coast of England on Feb. 8, 2016.

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