Margaret "Peggy" LeMone, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, today begins a one-year term as president of the American Meteorological Society.

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.