Cold Decembers in the US? I wonder how Decembers in Europe compared!
Interesting to see the Met Office UK CET ranking December 2010 as the second coldest in 334 years.
The third coldest December occurred during the last Grand Solar Minimum. And the coldest December recorded (1890) occurred during a rapid decline in sunspot activity, before recovering in the early 1900s.
Observations are now trending towards the next Grand Solar Minimum. Current sun spot activity alarmingly low.
Notice the total lack of solar activity in the last 4 months. CM predictions expecting the sunspot cycle to steadily climb. However the recent trend of weakening solar cycles prevails, and the increase in activity stalls.
For comparison, here is the sunspot activity for the last 400 years, since 1600.
If increases in sunspot activity are not observed within the next year, there is chance for a series of considerably colder winters in the years to come.
I'm all for a green, clean planet. But I struggle to accept humans directly control the climate. More inclined to agree that we are a contributing factor to the climate we experience.
It seems more and more plausible to suggest the sun, a ball of fire 1,300,000 times larger than earth and relatively close on an astronomical scale, directly controls and dictates the climate on our planet.