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Good article but it misses a little interesting info.

This was also during the Dalton Minimum, a period of weak solar activity, that resulted in colder than normal weather, and was the same period as the New Madrid earthquake here in the US, both products of the Dalton Minimum.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/events/1811-1812.php

I’ve posted info on this before, these solar minimums historically are also associated with increased geologic activity, with some of the most serious earthquakes and volcanoes in history occurring during these periods. When this Tambora earthquake occurred, colder winters were already happening, the ash cloud from it made things much worse.

Here’s where it should be of interest to us...

2013 - Atlanta froze over for days, stranding thousands of cars on the freeways. Took everyone by surprise, Atlanta officials had no experience dealing with this, and it was a huge mess. Harsh winter here in Texas, 1st time in many years I remember 3 inches of snow staying on the ground for several days in this area.

2014 - Record snowfall in the northeast, problems even in cities long accustomed to dealing with heavy snow. Not quite as bad in my area, but still a pretty cold winter.

These are just the beginning...

http://johnhartnett.org/2015/03/29/the-coming-long-dark-winter/

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/dark-winter-cold-global-cooling/2014/11/16/id/607672/

http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/21116-noaa-s-own-data-shows-that-global-climate-has-cooled-over-10-years

http://www.thenewamerican.com/reviews/movies/item/20505-documentary-outguns-the-opposition-in-the-global-warming-war

This last one has an interesting nugget...

>>>>In reality, Gore himself is not concerned at all about any capitalism-caused catastrophic global warming. The Global Warming War includes a map that plots the location of his San Francisco luxury condo, purchased the same year that An Inconvenient Truth was released. It sits right in the middle of the area that should be flooded by now had his predictions of melting ice caps been accurate. Frankly, the documentary writers let him off easy by omitting mention of his carbon-guzzling mansions in the suburbs of Nashville, Tennessee, and on the beachfront at Montecito, California.<<<<

Now why would Mr global Warming himself buy a mansion on the beach, where he predicted would be flooded in a couple of years???

We’re entering another period of decreased solar activity, expected by some to be just as serious as the Dalton and Maunder minimums. People need to stop listening to the “climate change” alarmists and get ready for what’s actually happening...we’re looking at 30 to 50 years of serious winters. The last 2 years are just the beginning.

Time for my obligatory comment, "that mean 10 and 6 meter DX will suck." I'm also interested in the affects on long range HF an VHF radio communications too since I'm an amateur radio operator. I've read that if we had amateur radio during the Maunder Minimum in the 1600's, most long distance communications on shortwave would be at night on 160 meters (1800 - 2000 kc, just above the AM radio band) and 80 meters (3500 - 4000). Medium wave radio in our AM band as well a longwave for some part of the world wold cover long distances at night. Forget long distance daytime comms. This would affect our defenses too, we would have to rely more on satellites for that as well as ship and air traffic in and over the oceans.

For as long as I can remember, the sun has been very active on the sunspot highs, I just turned 49. I remember Cycles 21 (1979/80) and 22 (1988/90) where I received South African police on VHF-Lo (30 - 50 Mc). I still here old timers still speak of the great times they had during cycle 19 (1957/58) during the time of the International Geophysical Year. The upcoming years might prove to be interesting indeed. The late amateur adio operator who did extensive studies on 160 meters, Stew Perry (W1BB, 1904 - 1990) would probably have a "field day" (pardon the ham radio pun) if things pan out this way.

At various Catastrophism posts I have mentioned that I have found what may be a pattern of increased and decreased geophysical activity for the past few centuries. These include:
1783 to 1815 (Laki Fissure in Iceland, New Madrid EQs 1811-12; Tambora among others);
1883 to 1911 (Krakatao 1883; Charleston EQ 1886; Caribbean Plate volcanoes 1902—Pelee in Martinique, St Vincent, Santa Maria in Guatemala and several others; San Francisco EQ 1906; Katmai/Novarupta volcano 1911.
1982 to ???? Mt. St. Helens, Pinatubo 1991, great Indonesian EQ and Tsunami 2005, and Japan 2011, Nepal EQ and ???

While researching some of this, I am working on a scientific historic novel about the 1902 Caribbean Plate cycle, I became aware that when something especially severe happens, it is not uncommon for other earth phenomena to be recorded at some distance. For example the Great Lisbon EQ and tsunami which killed 50,000 people there, was followed within the month by the worst EQ recorded in Boston, MA, since European settlement.

Our current solar phenomena should not be too surprising. When I took astronomy 55 years ago, we were taught that there were solar spot cycles of roughly 11, 22, and 88 years. Since there were record droughts in the early 1930s, I expected we would have record weather events in the 2000 teens and 20s. Looks like that is happening. Part of the terrible Syria problem is that they had experienced years of severe drought which caused migration to the cities and severe dissatisfaction with government of Assad. Then there are our forest fires and the California drought.

I certainly remember the severe weather (cold, snow, ice, floods) we had for several years after Pinatubo. Pennsylvania was shut down for several days with 3 feet of snow. Was the trigger for the SUV craze. I also remember enjoying many beautiful sunsets.

A final thought. I met a retured Naval captain the other day. He told me that the Naval authorities at Norfolk are very concerned about rising sea water levels there and occurring and future impact on our naval bases. Here is a link that discusses the issue. There is an interesting map showing impact of water levels on Norfolk naval/military facilities.

http://io9.com/the-pentagon-wants-to-tackle-climate-change-but-cong-1581721471