On Oct 18, 12:24 pm, "Bill Habr" wrote:
Odd thing, I have emailed Piers about solar activity in the past and never received a
reply. Since we are near minimum activity (a very, very quiet sun) it is no wonder that he
wouldn't (couldn't?) answer my questions about basic solar activity.

He's a con-man and charlatan pure and simple. He has no scientific
credibility whatsoever. And for the record the longest running record
of solar activity is from Wolfs data, the Zurich sunspot number
(although modern measures are now more accurate). It is available
online for historic data and also the most recent cycle at

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/SOLAR/SSN/ssn.html

Note that measuring the Earths magnetic field behaviour can under some
circumstance be used to predict future long term solar activity during
parts of the solar cycle. Auroral emissions at high altitudes near the
poles are fun but the solar wind has little or no effect on the
troposphere. Transient induced current effects across the Canada power
grid sufficient to trip circuit breakers in extreme geomagnetic storms
is about the limit.

http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/predict.shtml

And for would be aurora watchers

http://www.spaceweather.com/

Tonight or tomorrow night are decent candidates for a bit of a display
at high latitudes.
Note that these are all genuine science sites and not Daily Express
bull****e fodder.

Mr Corbyns long range weather "forecasts" are about as useful as "rain
or go dark before morning" predictions.

Regards,
Martin Brown