I think that the weather has always had extremes, but the fact of the Internet has made it easier to learn about extremes in other places. All of the sudden, it seems like everywhere is being hit by tornadoes, hurricanes, droughts, etc. etc. etc. Our brains hear the same weather story rehashed about 100 different ways, and subconsciously we perceive it like we're hearing about 100 different, unique weather events, so it seems like there is more going on than there really is.
The recent cool down here in Michigan is due to a front moving through...a rather typical weather phenomenon.
Meteorologists study weather history and look at "analog years" (years in the past where the weather followed a similar pattern) to aid in predicting what will happen next. I imagine that weather history would give some good clues as to why droughts, etc., are happening in certain places.