 |
|
|
NOAA: “The next solar cycle will be below average in intensity.” |
The Canadian Wheat Board warns that cool temperatures have delayed growth of western Canada’s wheat and barley crops by at least 10 days and put them at risk of damage from frosts. “You’re pushing development into a period with better likelihood of getting a frost,” said Bruce Burnett, director of weather and market analysis for the Canadian Wheat Board. “It’s not particularly what we need at this moment. It’s just too cool.” In the Southern Hemisphere, Brazil has reduced its corn output forecast for the same reason.
Both may be due to global coolingdriven by a quiet Sun.
The number of sunspots correlates closely with Earth’s sea surface temperature–much more closely than changes in atmospheric greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.
 |
Record-low sunspot numbers over the past two years suggest that Earth could be heading into what one blogger calls “Little Ice Age II, The Sequel.” The original Little Ice Age, from about A.D. 1300 to 1850, brought devastating crop failures and greater storminess all over the Northern Hemisphere and probably the Southern as well, and the global warming since then has been largely or perhaps entirely a natural recovery from that cool period.
Keep that in mind the next time you hear dire warnings of manmade global warming.
