Photos: The year in U.S. weather

A bicyclist crosses Douglas Avenue in downtown Wichita, Kan., during a heavy snowstorm.  (Travis Heying / Associated Press)

After a winter storm hit Philadelphia, a man inspects an ice-covered downed tree that took out a utility line and landed atop a minivan.   (Matt Rourke / Associated Press)

Cattle roam the parched fields of a ranch on the outskirts of Delano in California’s Central Valley.   (Frederic J. Brown / AFP/Getty Images)

A sign from wetter times warns people not to dive from a bridge over the Kern River, which has been dried up by water diversion projects and little rain in the vicinity of Bakersfield.  (David McNew / Getty Images)

A man stands on the frozen roadway as he waits for traffic to clear along Interstate 75 in Macon, Ga.  (John Bazemore / Associated Press)

Traffic inches along at the connectors of Interstates 75 and 85 as snow gridlocks Atlanta.  (Ben Gray / Associated Press)

Diego Ramos, who is homeless and lives under nearby building scaffolding, pauses as he clears a sidewalk of snow in lower Manhattan following a snowstorm that left up to eight inches of snow in New York City.  (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

An SUV ventures past the St. Augusta, Minn., city limits sign on Stearns County Road 136 in near white-out conditions.  (Kimm Anderson / Associated Press)

The midtown Manhattan skyline is reflected in the icy Hudson River in New York.  (Charles Sykes / Associated Press)

Bashon Mann and his children sled down a hill at the Capitol as snow falls in Washington, D.C.  (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)

Dense fog obscures part of the Brooklyn Bridge, as seen from Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York City.  (Andrew Gombert / EPA)

The sun illuminates windblown snow as a man walks under elevated train tracks in Philadelphia.  (Matt Rourke / Associated Press)

A jogger runs on the National Mall, with the Washington Monument in the background, in Washington, D.C.  (Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

The area surrounding Niagara Falls is coated in a layer of ice in Niagara Falls State Park, N.Y.  (Sharon Cantillon / Associated Press)

Freezing water sprays from Niagara Falls coats the landscape at Niagara Falls State Park in Niagara Falls, N.Y.  (James Neiss / Associated Press)

A person makes a happy face on a car window during a snowstorm in New York City.  (Emmanuel Dunand / AFP/Getty Images)