Atmospheric extreme events cause severe damage to human societies and ecosystems. The frequency and intensity of extremes and other associated events are continuously increasing due to climate change and global warming. The accurate prediction, characterization, and attribution of atmospheric extreme events is, therefore, a key research field in which many groups are currently working by applying different methodologies and computational tools. Machine learning and deep learning methods have arisen in the last years as powerful techniques to tackle many of the problems related to atmospheric extreme events. This paper reviews machine learning and deep learning approaches applied to the analysis, characterization, prediction, and attribution of the most important atmospheric extremes. A summary of the most used machine learning and deep learning techniques in this area, and a comprehensive critical review of literature related to ML in EEs, are provided. The critical literature review has been extended to extreme events related to rainfall and floods, heatwaves and extreme temperatures, droughts, severe weather events and fog, and low-visibility episodes. A case study focused on the analysis of extreme atmospheric temperature prediction with ML and DL techniques is also presented in the paper. Conclusions, perspectives, and outlooks on the field are finally drawn.

Nature-inspired algorithms are a very popular tool for solving optimization problems (Yang 2014), (Hassanien and Emary 2016). Numerous variants of nature-inspired algorithms have been developed (Iztok Fister Jr. and Fister 2013) since the beginning of their era. To prove their versatility, those were tested in various domains on various applications, especially when they are hybridized, modified or adapted. However, implementation of nature-inspired algorithms is sometimes a difficult, complex and tedious task. In order to break this wall, NiaPy is intended for simple and quick use, without spending time for implementing algorithms from scratch.

Cuckoo search (CS) is an efficient swarm-intelligence-based algorithm and significant developments have been made since its introduction in 2009. CS has many advantages due to its simplicity and efficiency in solving highly non-linear optimisation problems with real-world engineering applications. This paper provides a timely review of all the state-of-the-art developments in the last five years, including the discussions of theoretical background and research directions for future development of this powerful algorithm.