Listening to the BBC World Service in the small hours, it was mentioned
that the Sun is showing signs of renewed activity; thus ending the longest
period of ' Quiet Sun' since 1914. Apologies if this has been mentioned
before and I missed it!

Peter Clarke
Ewell Epsom

On Wed, 3 Feb 2010 08:47:19 -0000, peter clarke wrote in


Listening to the BBC World Service in the small hours, it was mentioned
that the Sun is showing signs of renewed activity; thus ending the longest
period of ' Quiet Sun' since 1914. Apologies if this has been mentioned
before and I missed it!

Peter - The new cycle began some months ago, but until very recently has
been weak. This site is as good as any for following trends.

http://spaceweather.com/

--
Mike Tullett - Coleraine 55.13°N 6.69°W posted 03/02/2010 09:09:12 GMT

You do realise Peter ,news like that will be taken down and used as evidence
by P.Corbyn ,or worse still Weatherlawyer !
What forecasts will now follow can hardly be imagined......

RonB


"peter clarke" wrote in message
...
Listening to the BBC World Service in the small hours, it was mentioned
that the Sun is showing signs of renewed activity; thus ending the longest
period of ' Quiet Sun' since 1914. Apologies if this has been mentioned
before and I missed it!

Peter Clarke
Ewell Epsom

"Mike Tullett" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 3 Feb 2010 08:47:19 -0000, peter clarke wrote in


Listening to the BBC World Service in the small hours, it was mentioned
that the Sun is showing signs of renewed activity; thus ending the
longest
period of ' Quiet Sun' since 1914. Apologies if this has been mentioned
before and I missed it!

Peter - The new cycle began some months ago, but until very recently has
been weak. This site is as good as any for following trends.

http://spaceweather.com/

--
Mike Tullett - Coleraine 55.13°N 6.69°W posted 03/02/2010 09:09:12 GMT

Thank you, Mike, for the link.


Peter

On Feb 3, 10:22*am, "ronaldbutton" wrote:
You do realise Peter ,news like that will be taken down and used as evidence
by P.Corbyn ,or worse still Weatherlawyer !
What forecasts will now follow can hardly be imagined......

RonB

"peter clarke" wrote in message

...



Listening *to the BBC World Service in the small hours, it was mentioned
that the Sun is showing signs of renewed activity; thus ending the longest
period of ' Quiet Sun' since 1914. Apologies if this has been mentioned
before and I missed it!

Peter Clarke
Ewell Epsom- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Given this, the question that it's hard to answer is; with the sun's
activity being so low, for so long and if the sun's activity has been
the major climate driver recently........why hasn't that been
reflected in the global temperatures over the last 2 years? Why hasn't
it been colder?

18 months ago, combined with the low solar output, we had a La Nina
and a negative PDO and during the last 5 years, 93% of months (56/60
months) fell into the top 10 warmest ever in all 5 major global
temperature series and indeed, the last decade was clearly the warmest
ever. The only way you can judge GW is by temperature outcomes and
this, for me, is the strongest evidence possible that the world is
continuing to warm and it is unlikely that the sun has been driving
that warming over this period.

Another good site if you are interested in Solar activity; solar
activity is still at very low levels, despite the last 6 months being
the warmest 6 months on record (GISS):

http://www.solarcycle24.com/

Maunder minimum & Little Ice Age spring to mind! Was kinda hoping, what with
the very quet sun and all, that when the cold spell we just had hit that
we'd be having ice fairs on the Thames again!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:20...Comparison.png

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sunspot_Numbers.png

Les

On Feb 3, 12:07*pm, "Les Hemmings" wrote:
Maunder minimum & Little Ice Age spring to mind! Was kinda hoping, what with
the very quet sun and all, *that when the cold spell we just had hit that
we'd be having ice fairs on the Thames again!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:20...Comparison.png

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sunspot_Numbers.png

Les

Hasn't happened Les! Could still do, but I think the warming would
scotch that, even if we did have such an extended solar minimum. After
the last few years' very low solar output, one could be forgiven for
expecting at least a little of what you were hoping for! Not sure many
would be all that pleased if it was as cold as some of those in the
18th Century!

On Wed, 3 Feb 2010 12:07:17 -0000, Les Hemmings wrote in


Maunder minimum & Little Ice Age spring to mind! Was kinda hoping, what with
the very quet sun and all, that when the cold spell we just had hit that
we'd be having ice fairs on the Thames again!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:20...Comparison.png

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sunspot_Numbers.png

There's ongoing research at Armagh Observatory on sun/climate links.

http://star.arm.ac.uk/climate/intro.html

--
Mike Tullett - Coleraine 55.13°N 6.69°W posted 03/02/2010 12:35:19 GMT

Dawlish wrote:

Hasn't happened Les! Could still do, but I think the warming would
scotch that, even if we did have such an extended solar minimum. After
the last few years' very low solar output, one could be forgiven for
expecting at least a little of what you were hoping for! Not sure many
would be all that pleased if it was as cold as some of those in the
18th Century!


Well, us extreme coldists have some extreme hopes!

Isn't there a J G Ballard novel that started with something like "Summers
got shorter and colder until one summer, the previous winter's snow didn't
melt..."

Had high (low?) hopes for this winter with the delayed start of the latest
solar cycle. Will have to swap sledge for short wave radio I guess!

Have a read of this from; http://thames.me.uk/s00051.htm

1683: The Great Frost from the diary of Evelyn -

23rd Dec: ... a greate frost

1st Jan: The weather continuing intolerably severe, streetes of booths were
set upon the Thames; the aire was so very cold and thick, as of many yeares
there had not ben the like. The small pox was very mortal.

6th Jan: The river quite frozen.

9th Jan: I went crosse the Thames on the ice, now become so thick as to
beare not onely streetes of boothes, in which they roasted meate, and had
divers[e] shops of wares, quite acrosse as in a towne, but coaches, carts,
and horses passed over.

9th Jan: So I went from Westminster Stayres to Lambeth, and din'd with the
Archbishop: after dinner and discourse with his grace till evening prayers,
Sir Geo. Wheeler and I walked over the ice from Lambeth Stayres to the horse
ferry. to the Horse Ferry.

16th Jan: The Thames was fill'd with people and tents, selling all sorts of
wares as in the Citty.

24th Jan: The frost continuing more and more severe, the Thames before
London was still planted with boothes in formal streetes, all sorts of
trades and shops furnish'd and full of commodities, even to a printing
presse, where ye people and ladyes tooke a fancy to have their names
printed, and the day and yeare set down, when printed on the Thames: this
humour tooke so universally, that 'twas estimated the printer gain'd £5. a
day, for printing a line onely, at six-pence a name, beside what he got by
ballads, &c.
Coaches plied from Westminster to the Temple, and from several other staires
to and fro, as in the streetes, sliding with skeetes, a bull-baiting, horse
and coach races, puppet plays and interludes, cookes, tipling and other lewd
places, so that it seemed a bacchanalian triumph or carnival on the water,
whilst it was a severe judgement on the land, the trees not onely splitting
as if lightning-struck, but men and cattle perishing in divers[e] places,
and the very seas so lock'd up with ice, that no vessels could stir out or
come in.
The fowles, fish, and birds, and all our exotiq plants and greenes
universally perishing. Many parkes of deer were destroied, and all sorts of
fuell so deare that there were greate contributions to preserve the poore
alive.
Nor was this severe weather much less intense in most parts of Europe, even
as far as Spaine and the most southern tracts.
London, by reason of the excessive coldnesse of the aire hindering the
ascent of the smoke, was so filled with the fulginous steame of the
sea-coale, that hardly could one see crosse the streets, and this filling
the lungs with its grosse particles, exceedingly obstructed the breast, so
as one could hardly breathe.
[ Was this the first London Smog? ]
Here was no water to be had from the pipes and engines, nor could the
brewers and divers[e] other tradesmen worke, and every moment was full of
disastrous accidents.

4th Feb: I went to Says Court to see how the frost had dealt with my garden,
where I found many of the greenes and rare plantes utterly destroied. The
oranges and mirtills very sick, the rosemary and laurells dead to all
appearance, but ye cypress likely to indure it.

5th Feb: It began to thaw, but froze againe. My coach crossed from Lambeth
to the Horseferry at Millbank, Westminster. The booths were almost all taken
downe, but there was first a Map or Landskip cut in copper representing all
the manner of the camp, and the several actions, sports, and pastimes
thereon, in memory of so signal a frost.

8th Feb: ... The weather was set in to an absolute thaw and raine, but ye
Thames still frozen.
....
4th April: I returned to my house at Says Court, after 5 months residence in
London; hardly the least appearance of any spring.



Les

Les Hemmings wrote:

1683: The Great Frost from the diary of Evelyn -


Notice the evidence of what was called then "Ye Suckers Gappe"?

"5th Feb: It began to thaw, but froze againe. "