[Strategerist]

Article is wrong, and overtaken by events.

There are a large number of sunspots on the sun at the moment; 9 just on the side facing us alone, which is a very high level of activity.

http://spaceweather.com/

Beware of a lot of internet kooks eagerly proclaiming a new Ice Age.

[Moonman62]

I believe sunspot activity is still well below where it should be.

http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/images/ssn_predict_l.gif

[Big_Harry]

So I can post my “Yankees go home!” signs again?

[PreciousLiberty]

"There are a large number of sunspots on the sun at the moment; 9 just on the side facing us alone, which is a very high level of activity."

Actually, it's not for this phase of the solar cycle. The minimum following Cycle 23 was extremely long and low. This led to predictions that Cycle 24 would be even weaker and longer, which seems to be bearing out. The kicker is that according to the most current solar dynamics models, Cycle 25 will be weaker than the current Cycle 24, due to end somewhere between 2020 and 2024.

From this June, announcing NASAs latest thoughts on the matter:

Sun's Fading Spots Signal Big Drop in Solar Activity

The gist of it is that three different groups, looking at different phenomena, have concluded that the Sun is going into a long-term, unusually inactive state.

The final couple lines of the article:

If the models prove accurate and the trends continue, the implications could be far-reaching.

"If we are right, this could be the last solar maximum we'll see for a few decades," Hill said. "That would affect everything from space exploration to Earth's climate."

"Beware of a lot of internet kooks eagerly proclaiming a new Ice Age."

By the way, this is not involve a full-blown Ice Age, just a few decades of below-average temperatures (a "Little Ice Age").

[NELSON111]

Article is wrong, and overtaken by events. There are a large number of sunspots on the sun at the moment; 9 just on the side facing us alone, which is a very high level of activity. Beware of a lot of internet kooks eagerly proclaiming a new Ice Age.

LOL. Did you even BOTHER to read the article?

And BTW...you are wrong....not the article. We are currently on solar cycle 24. The article is speaking about solar cycle 25. It (the article) very clearly states that the embryonic markers that appear ahead of time (which are high-latitude jet streams in the sun) are not there and are 3 years late.

Solar cycle 25 will not peak until 2021 or 2022. So...yes...there are sun spots now...because we are in cycle 24....because markers for cycle 24 appeared when they were supposed to back in the late 90's.