Will somebody please infect the sun with acne!

Had a cold, crap Spring so far?  Well, don't say I didn't warn you!  I have lost count of the number of times I have pointed out to you that the sun has cured itself of acne!  Or to put it into slightly (er, very slightly) more scientific language, sun spot activity has virtually bottomed out!  Don't take my word for it - and you really shouldn't given my dismal record at scientific exams! - instead rely on these two boffins, Frank Bosse and Prof. Fritz Vahrenholt, who inform us that:

In March our supplier of energy [that's the sun, stoopid!] was more inactive than in the previous months. The sunspot number was only 2,5, which is only 8% of what is normal for this month into the average cycle (month 112).Only solar cycles 5 and 6 were weaker.

They also provide this neat diagram - so useful for us dummies who can't do sums - which shows the record since the 18th century.

Figure 3: Comparison of the previous 24 solar cycles recorded since the 18th century. The current solar cycle no. 24 is the weakest in almost 200 years. Only two other cycles were weaker.

If indeed you are feeling a cold, unseasonal chill I can only suggest that you either throw another politician on the fire, or better still, try vigorously slapping a 'Greenie-Warmer' around, the exercise will warm you up quickly and you will feel better about yourself!  But if you really feel the need to sweat a bit, then start thinking about how life will be under another Maunder Minimum (1645-1715) when from time to time the Thames froze over!

The Dalton minimum in the 400-year history of sunspot numbers, showing the low peaks for solar cycles 5 and 6.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still, it wasn't all bad back then because in 1599, just before the Maunder Minimum set in with a vengeance, old Bill Shakespeare and his mates were able to build the Globe Theatre on the South Bank by sliding the timbers from north London over the Thames on the ice!

 

 

Comments

[JK]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_of_1315%E2%80%9317

Yep David. These things do come and go round and round.

[Whitewall]

Too bad people didn't know how to politicize, secularize and monetize normal sun/climate change patterns back then.