This article is politically motivated.
Solar minimums and below average numbers of sunspots are empirically linked to cooler temperatures.
I recently read that sunspots are at their lowest level in more than a century.
As I recall, NASA was claiming several months ago that the Solar minimum had ended - based on one spot that was discovered in the correct solar hemisphere.
Whoops!
Today, I get the impression that NASA is trying to assuage the fears of environmentalists by claiming that the new sunspots are really there, but they are just too small to be seen by the official instrument that is supposed to count them!
Due to the alignment of the earth’s magnetic and geographic axis, the magnetosphere is weak and our protection from a CME is minimal.
We are entering a perfect storm, i.e. reverse polarity CME while we are vulnerable.