Is it the sun, stupid? I contend it is. We’ve seen gradual cooling over the past 11 years (given the 1998 baseline called the “highest ever” by warming proponents), and the last few years has witnessed a fairly sharp declination in temperature. Mirroring the falling global mean temperature on Earth is an identical failing temperature on other solar system bodies and a record decrease in sunspots.
And yet, no scientists or media types seem willing to put 2 and 2 together. That’s because 2 and 2 make 5 when you’re a political opportunist.
May 29, 2009: An international panel of experts led by NOAA and sponsored by NASA has released a new prediction for the next solar cycle. Solar Cycle 24 will peak, they say, in May 2013 with a below-average number of sunspots.
"If our prediction is correct, Solar Cycle 24 will have a peak sunspot number of 90, the lowest of any cycle since 1928 when Solar Cycle 16 peaked at 78," says panel chairman Doug Biesecker of the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center.
