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I am completely unmoved by examples of extreme weather. Weather is not climate.
The biggest problem with citing extreme weather is it's so hard to quantify. It seems to me like 2010 has been a light year for natural disasters, but how do you put a number to something like that?
On Pakistan: it's an 80 year flood, as I understand. It's hard to build flood control systems to endure a 100 year flood in a region with monsoons, especially on a budget like Pakistan's. Add in Pakistan's understandably poor response and relief effort, and the result is a human tragedy that captures your attention and stimulates an emotional reaction, but it's not unprecedented, nor is it evidence of climate change.
Statistically speaking, you can expect hundred year floods to happen every year. Add in hundred year droughts, fires, hurricanes, etc. and it's enough to keep a newspaper afloat, provided that enough people enjoy reading stories about these kinds of events.
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