The year 2014 kicked off in the middle of Winter Storm Hercules, which left parts of the Northeast and Midwest covered in snow, setting the tone for a year of dramatic weather events, both in the United States and abroad.

The collection above features 100 images from 2014 that capture some of the year’s most powerful weather, news, travel and science images.

As the winter months dragged on, they brought numerous snow storms, including Winter Storm Leon, which paralyzed the South, causing traffic backups on major highways. The 2.6 inches of snow that fell on Atlanta caused more than 1,460 accidents, including two fatal crashes.

April brought a deadly tornado outbreak in the South, and June brought another tornado outbreak in the Great Plains and the Midwest, where two tornadoes trekked directly through a 350-person town in a rare twin-tornado formation.

But the year’s most compelling images were not just of natural disasters. There were several stunning photos of the world around us.

Images that made weather.com’s list also include fishermen in China using cormorant birds to help them on Li River, a cliff diver hurtling down into Ik Kil cenote in Mexico, star trails at the Jersey Shore and even a hybrid of a zebra and a donkey playing with his mother at the Taigan zoo in Ukraine.

