Maunder Minimum

For John, BLUF:  The science is often unsettled, but it would be nice to buy a few years of cooling.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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A mini ice age could be on the way and it’s going to get very, very cold

Here is the sub-headline:

Humanity is facing a long, cold winter which could see temperatures across the planet plunge to depressing lows.

From Metro News (UK), by Mr Jasper Hamill, 16 November 2018.

Here is the lede plus six:

That’s the warning from a Nasa scientist who fears sunspot activity on the surface of our star has dropped so low that it could herald the arrival of a uniquely grim mini Ice Age.

‘We see a cooling trend,’ Martin Mlynczak of Nasa’s Langley Research Center told Space Weather.

‘High above Earth’s surface, near the edge of space, our atmosphere is losing heat energy.

‘If current trends continue, it could soon set a Space Age record for cold.’

Sunspot activity follows a cycle which is believed to last 11 years as the number of patches peaks and drops.

There have been very few spots on the sun for most of this year, meaning that it could be about to get very cold, very quickly.

‘It could happen in a matter of months,’ Mlynczak added.

The Maunder Minimum, in the 17th century, was coincident with the last mini-ice age, when the Thames froze over.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff