Abandon all travel! Don’t go outside! It’s full of storms, floods, and heat waves! But, DON’T PANIC!

There is no calm before the storm, as #snowmaggedon and #frankenstorm hit. Since the turn of the millennium, large-scale weather disasters have been seemingly more common, and more commonly reported by the media as ‘special events’. Media reaction to extreme weather has therefore shaped how communities react to it, has exasperated the potential for mass panic, and has driven public responses to aid as the media cultivates the conditions of permanent crisis. By exploring recent and ongoing disasters such as Superstorm Sandy, the Fukushima nuclear crisis, flooding in Germany, and heat