Some records are made to be broken — like Olympic speed skating; Cal Ripkin, Jr.'s, most consecutive baseball game appearances; and North Dakota's longest cow chip toss. Other records we'd prefer to let stand — the world's deadliest disaster, or the most active hurricane season, for instance. Years 2004 and 2005 will probably make the books as among the most dramatic in weather history. Hurricanes pounded the southern coast of the USA. Floods and blizzards battered the Midwest. Earthquakes devastated parts of central Asia. And one of the deadliest of disasters — the tsunami — decimated whole villages in Southeast Asia. Global relief agencies, both governmental and private, were stretched to the breaking point. Some experts are saying even these records might not stand for long.

In late su…