Ref. the solar maximum comment - despite the high solar activity of the past
2-3 weeks, solar maximum was reached in 2000 and we are now part-way down
the slope towards minimum. In fact, the solar indices indicate that solar
activity during our summer was in fact on average lower than at any time
since 1998.
The current activity and solar flares will almost certainly prove to be a
blip.

The weather is unrelated to the sun-spot cycle - the hot summer of 1976
occured during solar minimum.

my £0.02

Jim.

"Jason Taylor" wrote in message
om...
Someone wrote the following:

It is very nice here. Should go into the 70's today and
be warm all
week. Lovely Indian Summer.

to which someone else replied:

70 degree weather in Ohio in November is not a lovely Indian
Summer. That is
called freakish global warming...

to which someone else replied:


global warming doesn't mean that everything gets warmer, sure
it does in
general, but specific temperatures still depend on local
weather patterns.
remember it's only what 1/50 of a degree per year or so.

so yes 70 degrees in ohio in november is def indian summer NOT global
warming.

I think the hot temperatures of late are a combination of three
things. First, there is global warming of a few degrees. Second, we
are nearing solar maximum, when the solar heating is slightly higher.
The third thing is pseudo-random chaos (i.e., weather). Due to these
combined effects, we are setting record highs all over the place and
finally seeing the effects of global warming.

--
Jason Taylor | "Doctor, don't cut so deep! That's the third
Hyattsville, MD| operating table you've ruined this week!"