Photo Credit: “tornado Elie Manitoba” by Justin1569 via WC

“Over a 3-day period, we had 162 tornadoes. And that was an all-time record for most tornadoes in a tornado outbreak…So, that outbreak was followed just 2 weeks later by the most incredible outbreak we have ever seen: 362 tornadoes in a 4-day span…so, more than double the previous record, which was set just 2 weeks before that.” -Jeff Masters, director of meteorology of the Weather Underground

We’ve been experiencing some strange and deadly weather in the U.S. lately from the deadly Joplin, Mo., tornado to the severe weather events that brought devastation and death across parts of the South and Midwest.

So what’s causing all this strange and deadly weather? Is it climate change? Is it global warming?

PBS Newshour’s Judy Woodruff explores the science behind this year’s remarkably severe weather with Jeff Masters is co-founder and director of meteorology of the Weather Underground, a weather-tracking website. Katharine Hayhoe is a professor and climate scientist at Texas Tech University. She was a member of the review team that studied the work of the U.N. Panel on Climate Change.

Can’t watch the video? Read the transcripts at pbs.org/newshour