More than 1,000 people were evacuated in Sicily after a four-kilometer (2.5-mile) section of cliff crumbled during a storm, leaving houses perched perilously on the edge, authorities said on Monday.

Land was continuing to give way due to rain that has soaked the area in recent days, said the mayor of the southern hill town of Niscemi.

The death toll in a massive Indonesian landslide rose to 17 on Monday as rescuers used heavy equipment to search for dozens still missing days after heavy rain unleashed a torrent of mud.

People gathered near the site in Java's West Bandung region, desperately awaiting news of their loved ones as rescuers, who fear another landslide, scoured the unstable area.

A massive winter storm dumped sleet, freezing rain and snow across much of the U.S. on Sunday, bringing subzero temperatures and halting air and road traffic. Tree branches and power lines snapped under the weight of ice, and hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in the Southeast were left without electricity.

The ice and snowfall were expected to continue into Monday followed by very low temperatures which could cause "dangerous travel and infrastructure impacts" for days, the National Weather Service said.

Deep in the Ecuadorian Andes, an ancient forest stands as a final sanctuary against the encroachment of human activity. This is the Yanacocha Reserve, the last refuge for the Black-breasted puffleg (Eriocnemis nigrivestis), a tiny hummingbird teetering on the edge of extinction.

Measuring just 9 centimeters (3.5 inches), this emblematic bird of Quito is one of the most threatened species on the planet. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, its global population has dwindled to between 150 and 200 birds.

When big winter storms move in, they can bring nasty weather that ranges from snow to sleet and freezing rain — or maybe extreme and dangerous cold.

Here's a look at some weather conditions and how they vary from place to place.

Chile is reeling from one of its most serious wildfire emergencies in years.

Deadly flames sweeping across central and southern parts of the South American country have turned large swaths of forest and towns to ash, killed at least 20 people, forced tens of thousands from their homes and left families sifting through charred debris.

By Mireille Rebeiz, Dickinson College and Josiane Yazbeck, Université La Sagesse

(THE CONVERSATION) More than a year after a ceasefire nominally ended active fighting, much of southern Lebanon bears the ecological scars of war. Avocado orchards are gone and beehives destroyed. So, too, are the livelihoods they supported. Meanwhile, fields and forests have disappeared under the intense fire caused by white phosphorus shelling. Shrapnel and unexploded bombs, however, remain.

Warm Arctic waters and cold continental land are combining to stretch the dreaded polar vortex in a way that will send much of the United States a devastating dose of winter weather later this week with swaths of painful subzero temperatures, heavy snow and powerline-toppling ice.

Meteorologists said the eastern two-thirds of the nation is threatened with a winter storm that could rival the damage of a major hurricane and has some origins in an Arctic that is warming from climate change. They warn that the frigid weather is likely to stick around through the rest of January and into early February, meaning the snow and ice that accumulates will take a long time to melt.

Millions of Americans from New Mexico to the Carolinas are bracing for a potentially catastrophic ice storm that could crush trees and power lines and knock out power for days, while many northern states all the way to New England could see enough snow to make travel nearly impossible, forecasters say.

An estimated 100 million people were under some type of winter weather watch, warning or advisory on Wednesday ahead of the storm, the National Weather Service said.

Landslides hit a house and a campground in New Zealand on Thursday, leaving at least two dead while emergency crews were trying to rescue others buried in rubble, officials said.

The first hit a house in the community of Welcome Bay on New Zealand's North Island at 4:50 a.m., police said. Two people escaped the house, and the bodies of two who were trapped inside were recovered hours later, Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell said.