I used to follow the sunspot cycle back when I was an active amateur radio operator. I would always be on the lookout on solar activity. The higher the solar activity, the better the DX was on the upper bands. In fact, during times of high solar activity, it was a lot of fun. You could actually watch tv broadcasts from several states away. With just a 5 watt SSB rig, you could reach halfway around the world on 10 meters. It was exciting.

Now, we are at the bottom of the solar cycle. The new solar cycle hasn’t begun yet and we have been been on the minimum for more than a year now. In fact, we are in the midst of one of the least active periods of solar activity for at least a century, probably much longer. Low solar activity can influence the climate on Earth. In fact, a long period of low solar activity coincided with the mini Ice Age in the 1500 and 1600’s. Some scientists are beginning to talk to about this possibility.

So, are we on the road to global warming or on the edge of a mini Ice Age?

I have been looking at some interesting statistics lately. I know people keep saying that global warming is a fact and it’s fact that it’s caused by humans altering their environment. I’m sorry but I have always been a skeptic and lately my skepticism has been growing.

It seems that global temperatures have actually been leveling off over the last 5 years. This is interesting because it goes against what the models are predicting. Another interesting tidbit is that global temperatures are not nearly as high as during 1000 to 1200 AD. If you recall from your high school history classes, during this time the Vikings colonized and had farms on Greenland.

Meaning Greenland was much warmer then than now…..maybe we are just having a natural climate cycle after all.