The school was subdivided in two main parts, one consisting of lectures and exercises, the other consisting of the development of seven independent research projects by respective working groups, each supervised by one or two lecturers. In planning the school, weexpectedthat some, butcertainlynotall, of the working groups might be able to develop interesting enough research projects to write peer-reviewed publications on their results. It is an outstanding outcome that all of the working groups were ableto complete innovative publications, as can be seen in the present special issue. The seven articles span a wide range of topics in climate and weather extremes, following the overall framework of the summer school, and thereby illustrate the breadth of themes relevant to this research area. These articles, together with the large collection of lecture notes, tutorials, and other resources that are available from the school's website (http://www.wcrp-climate. org/ictp2014-about) represent an enduring legacy that contributes to the body of knowledge and expertise on extremes.