If the last few years have seen a so-called quiet Sun, its silence has spoken volumes. Researchers have taken advantage of a raft of new sensors and a special observing campaign to learn much about what happens when the sun temporarily powers down.

Even if the onslaught paled next to great winter outbreaks of the past, it was impressively persistent across some influential areas, including southeast England and the U.S. mid-Atlantic.

In eastern Tennessee a portrait of Earth's progression from ice age to present is taking shape. Each day, up to 100 years of climatic history unfolds. By early this year, the story will be complete, thanks to some five million processing hours on supercomputers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.