Cutty Dyer

Nope, but I emailed the Met Office yesterday to report the lack of updates; reply came the same day stating that they will look into it.

The relationship between solar UV output and the solar cycle was established way back in the late 70's (beginning of the satellite era): As for your other questions, they're covered in the MetOffice presentation - why not click on the link and have a read? Pdf link: http://lasp.colorado...n_sorce2012.pdf

Sunspot numbers & solar UV output are in phase - the above MetOffice presentation demonstrates this.

Highest (not quite) for this cycle - almost, but still very low in a historical context: Current activity "low levels"

I notice that in the French Meteo 2013 Summer forecast "A Year Without Summer?" Arctic influence isn't mentioned . Extract: A year without a summer? The combination of a long and late winter which resulted in a cooling of the waters in the seas and solar activity become very weak for several months may have a direct effect on the weather of our summer: some calculations considering an anomaly -2 ° to - 3 in France with rainfall totals twice higher than normal. Link: http://actualite.lachainemeteo.com/actualite-meteo/2013-05-25-09h04/meteo-2013---une-annee-sans-ete---21057.php

Very interesting 2012 MetOffice presentation posted on the lasp.colorado.edu website. Extract from summary: • Increasing modelling evidence to support the observed modulation of the AO/NAO by UV solar variability. It begs the question: in relation to the recent cold winters, why is the MET Office's Chief Scientist Julia Slingo placing so much emphasis on the possibility that "Arctic Amplification" is the cause? Pdf link: http://lasp.colorado.edu/sorce/news/2012ScienceMeeting/docs/presentations/S2-01_Ineson_sorce2012.pdf

The Balkans have been hit hard - "In Serbia's northern province of Vojvodina, 50cm (20ins) of snow fell in just a few hours" See: http://news.sky.com/...st-hits-balkans

"The Moscow weather service said today that a third of November's typical amount of snow had fallen in the past 24 hours, creating a 4.7in (12cm) cover - and more is forecast. Moscow's city hall said the Russian capital has not seen a bigger snowfall in November for about 50 years." I guess they should know.

As reported on the Sky News channel: Link: http://news.sky.com/story/1018261/moscow-hit-by-biggest-snowfall-in-50-years

Good observation; interesting that the overall trend is on the rise.

Being a much maligned bunch we tend to congregate in numbers; now back to the sensationalist posts - anyone seen this before? Details here: http://www.landscheidt.info/?q=node/50

Thanks Polar.

With reference to solar max, I've been trying to find any updates from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan ref the solar observation satellite Hinode. This sensationalist piece was published in April: http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201204200075 I've been unable to find any later data/articles.

Love this thread; specifically the anticipation / expectation it brings of a cold UK Winter. Sun is very quiet at the moment; interesting article published this week in the AGU correlating low solar activity and cold European winters: http://www.agu.org/n...2/2012-39.shtml Another similar article published by the NewScientist back in 2004 correlating low sunspot activity and the price of cerials: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6680