Doctor Shayna Whitaker inspects a sea turtle, which had been stunned by freezing temperatures, in Port Aransas, Texas, on Friday. Some 700 sea turtles were rescued in Texas, which, like much of the central and eastern United States, has been in the grip of dangerously cold weather. ANNIE RICE/REUTERS Extreme weather, disasters show need for immediate global action, experts say The big freeze in the United States, heavy snowfall in Southern Europe and the Middle East, melting glaciers in the Himalayas and melting polar caps, as well as deaths from extreme weather, have made the ravages of climate change all the more alarming.