The ‘Little Ice Age’ was actually a significantly extended cool period lasting several centuries, and no less than FOUR extended minima occurred during its ‘tenure.’ These include, in order, the Wolf, the Spörer, the Maunder, and the Dalton minima. These extended minima were not all of the same ‘depth,’ in that the minimum numbers of sunspots were not the same across all of them — the Maunder was far deeper than the rest — but there are indications that we are hitting numbers in the range of the Dalton already. . .
The fact that, as sunspot numbers go down, the overall energies output by the Sun also go down is an indication that, in this instance, correlation may well equal causation, at least to some degree. Add in a few large (or many small) volcanic eruptions to complicate matters — and there usually ARE such concatenations of volcanic eruptions in such multi-decadal timeframes, as a matter of course — and it may well prove interesting times ahead, as well as in the past.”We have noticed, locally, that April, May, and so far June have been the mildest that we can remember. Here in the second week of June, we're having lows in the 60s and highs in the 80s.
You might want to make sure your furnace works before winter sets in.
Around here, the last 2 winters have been unusually mild, following 2 unusually harsh winters. Last summer was the hottest in about 10 years. I would not be surprised to see this summer be another hot one. I would be surprised to see this winter be another mild one.
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