Award-winning Princeton University Physicist Dr. Will Happer rejected the media and some scientists claims that the record U.S. cold is due to man-made global warming. Happer, explained the science in an exclusive interview with Climate Depot:

"Polar vortices have been around forever. They have almost nothing to do with more CO2 in the atmosphere," Happer said in an exclusive interview with Climate Depot.

Happer continued: "Here is a thumbnail sketch of the physics. The poles have little sunshine even in summer, but especially in winter, like now in the Arctic. So the air over the poles rapidly gets bitterly cold because of radiation to dark space, with negligible replenishment of heat from sunlight. The sinking cold air is replaced by warmer air flowing in from the south at high altitudes. Since the earth is rotating, the air flowing in from the south has to start rotating faster to the west, just like a figure skater rotates faster if she pulls in her arms. This forms the polar vortex. The extremely cold air at the bottom of the vortex can be carried south by meanders of the jet stream at the edge of the vortex. We will have to live with polar vortices as long as the sun shines and the earth rotates.

Like any fluid system at "high Reynolds number," the jet stream is highly unstable, and from time to time it develops meanders to low latitudes, like the one we have had the past few days. About this time of year in 1777, just before the Battle of Princeton, there was a similar sequence. On January 2, Cornwallis's men marched south from New York City through cold rain and muddy roads to try to trap George Washington and his little Continental Army in Trenton . On the night of January 2-3, a polar vortex swept across New Jersey, with snow and a very hard freeze. Aided by the extremely cold weather, Washington was able to evacuate his troops and artillery over newly frozen roads and to avoid Cornwallis's encirclement. Reaching Princeton on the viciously cold morning of January 3, Washington won another battle against the British and escaped to winter quarters in Morristown. Thank you polar vortex!

With the UK suffering the worst band of winter storms in more than 20 years, the Environment Agency has been forced to issue flood warnings in every single region across England and Wales.

The agency currently has around 350 alerts in place across the country as a whole, including three severe warnings which indicate there is a "danger to life".

Last night a flood siren warning of extreme danger to people and property was sounded in Dorset, as gales and tidal surges battered the coast.

The Environment Agency raised the alarm after its sea defences were breached at Chiswell Beach in Portland last night, following on from a severe flood warning in the area.

• Plague of poison-resistant rats bringing new misery to homeowners

• Super rats are invading houses to seek shelter from their flooded lairs

• Pests are immune to traditional poisons and carry life-threatening diseases

Flood ravaged homes across England have a new threat to contend with: a plague of mutant 'super' rats.

The disease-carrying rodents have been emerging from their traditional lairs in sewers and burrows, fleeing the rising flood waters.

Hordes of the brown rats have escaped flooded drains across the south of England after storms unleashed torrential downpours on vast swathes of the country.

Record heatwaves and wildfires, widespread and severe flooding, massive sinkholes swallowing buildings and people, mass animal deaths, an asteroid exploding over Russia, thousands more fireballs lighting up the sky throughout the year, record-breaking blizzards snowfall, the coldest northern spring in 100 years, massive landslides, 'rare' tornadoes occurring in places they shouldn't, the widest tornado ever observed, more volcanic eruptions, more major earthquakes forming new islands, the strongest tropical storm in recorded history, successive hurricanes in Europe, the coldest temperature ever recorded, snow in Cairo... these are signs of climate change, aka Earth Changes.

Welcome to the new normal.

• Couple swept out to sea in walking along rocks near the town of Biarritz

• The woman is still missing and rescuers are searching for her

• The man was in the sea for 20 minutes before being rescued

A video has captured the horrifying moment a couple were swept out to sea after a huge wave to crashed down on them as they walked along a coastal path.

The pair were walking along the treacherous sea front on Sunday near the town of Biarritz, south west France at the weekend when they were dragged out to sea.

The man was in the water for 20 minutes before he was saved, but rescuers have been unable to find the woman who is in her thirties.

• The terrifying incident was captured on CCTV in the city of Abaetetuba

• Gigantic craters, caused by water erosion, opened up in the ground

• Electrical wires above the houses started snapping - giving a warning sign

Residents in a town in the north of Brazil screamed in horror as they watched their homes disappear into massive sink holes on the weekend.

The terrifying incident was captured on CCTV cameras in the city of Abaetetuba in the northern state of Para.

These pictures show the moment gigantic craters, caused by water erosion, open up in the ground and swallow dozens of houses.

Fierce storms have broken down flood defence systems, battered coastal towns and destroyed part of a centuries-old landmark rock formation in Cornwall.

The natural rock formation in Porthcothan Bay, Newquay was battered by 30ft waves and 70mph winds, causing most of the doughnut-shaped archway to break away into the sea.

Local resident Tamsin Swindells told the Western Morning News the beach "just won't be the same without it", adding that the area "looked like a demolition site" now.

The damage came as some of the worst winter storms to hit Britain in 20 years shattered various harbours and coastal areas.

More flooding is expected across the country today and tomorrow as the west coast counted its losses following the arrival of "Winter Storm Hercules", the system which has left behind a record-breaking deep freeze in the US.

Last night a flood siren warning of extreme danger to people and property was sounded in Dorset, as gales and tidal surges battered the coast.

The Environment Agency raised the alarm after its sea defences were breached at Chiswell Beach in Portland last night, following on from a severe flood warning in the area.

The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) on Friday confirmed two outbreaks of peste des petits ruminants, also known as goat plague, in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

On December 20, a farm in Kuqa County in Aksu Prefecture reported that some goats showed suspected symptoms of the disease and 26 of them had died. On December 22, goats in Kalpin County in the same prefecture also showed suspected symptoms of the disease, and 44 of them died.

The country's exotic animal disease research center on Friday confirmed that the epidemic in both cases was peste des petits ruminants.

In Kalpin County, local authorities have sealed off and sterilized the infected area, where a total of 448 goats have been culled and safely disposed of.

In Kuqa County, work to seal off the infected areas and cull goats is being conducted in an orderly manner to prevent the disease from spreading, according to the MOA.

Peste des petits ruminants, also known as PPR, goat plague or ovine rinderpest, is a contagious disease mainly affecting goats and sheep. The virus causes fever, lesions, labored breathing and diarrhea in infected animals.

Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has instructed all relevant ministries, government institutions, local disaster mitigation agencies and the Karo regency administration in North Sumatra to prepare for a worst-case scenario following an increase in Mount Sinabung's volcanic activity during the past week.

The worst-case scenario would be applied if the evacuation zone reaches between 7.5 kilometres and 10km from the crater. Currently, the evacuation zone is still between 5 and 7km on the southeast slope of the volcano.

"No activity is allowed on this side of the volcano. It has to be free of any activity," BNPB spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

He said this particular part of the volcano was particularly vulnerable to disaster as it was the lane for the volcano's pyroclastic flows.

He added that there were already 60 pyroclastic flows running from the crater of Mt. Sinabung, stretching to a distance of between 2 and 5 km down the slope of the volcano. He also said that the volume of the pyroclastic flows was increasing every day.

The severe cold weather sweeping across the mid-United States is threatening to curtail booming oil production as it disrupts traffic, strands wells and interrupts drilling and fracking operations.

Weather stations across the U.S. Midwest recorded some of the coldest temperatures in two decades this weekend, with many schools closed and flights delayed. Arctic cold air is also spreading across Texas on Monday with temperatures expected to drop to single digits in the morning.

Output in North Dakota, the second-largest oil producing state, usually ebbs in winter as producers scale back on drilling and well completion services such as fracking, which pumps a slurry of water, sand and chemicals into wells.

But analysts are bracing for a possibly worse than usual impact on output from the state, that could affect operations of companies such as Continental Resources, Marathon Oil and Hess Energy. The companies did not immediately reply to questions about operations on Monday.

"It is so cold that they cannot produce at full capacity, if at all. That should support prices," said Carsten Fritsch, senior oil analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.