dr. greg forbes, one of the great living experts on science and severe weather. thank you for being with us. >>> when we come back here this evening, this terrifying e. coli outbreak in europe right now. why the experts say they have never seen anything like it before, and do we have anything to worry about here? >>> and later, a spring awakening captured by our cameras that we want to show you tonight. >>> there's a real emergency under way in europe, and american officials would like to prevent it from spreading to this country. it's a very rare, virulent strain of e. coli. it's making people very sick, lots of them. and it's already killed 18 people. nbc's michelle kaczynski remains on the story. she's in the northern part of germany, where this all started, in hamburg, tonight. michelle, good evening. >> reporter: we're talking about at least 1,600 people very sick from this. and today, scientists announce this is a new mutant strain of e. coli. highly toxic, highly resistant. it attacks the kidneys, and in most of the serious cases, doctors are also seeing s