Why don’t scientists stick with trying to get the 5 day weather forecast right more often than make silly predictions like these? He's merely stating the obvious: "He told the Daily Mail that 'a significant share of the warming we saw from 1980 to 2000 and at earlier periods in the 20th Century was due to these cycles...'"
Don Easterbrook’s AGU paper on potential global cooling
The Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age are well known examples of such climate changes, but in addition, at least 23 periods of climatic warming and cooling have occurred in the past 500 years. Each period of warming or cooling lasted about 25-30 years (average 27 years). Two cycles of global warming and two of global cooling have occurred during the past century, and the global cooling that has occurred since 1998 is exactly in phase with the long term pattern. Global cooling occurred from 1880 to ~1915; global warming occurred from ~1915 to ~1945; global cooling occurred from ~1945-1977;, global warming occurred from 1977 to 1998; and global cooling has occurred since 1998.
I wish I could remember the source that showed the various news outfits of the times hyping each potential disaster of impending warming and cooling.
Why don’t scientists stick with trying to get the 5 day weather forecast right more often than make silly predictions like these? Well, this one isn't all that silly, it's based on historical events, not computer models (except those used to analyze the historical pattern, but those don't generally require any physics, nor any particular assumptions.
However my take on the historical data is that if we get 30 years of cooling at this point in the longer cycle, we might get 30,000 years of cold.
Note on graph presentation: The heavier temperature lines 160,000 BP to present reflect more data points for this time period, not necessarily greater temperature variability.
Notice that "now" is at a peak, one that is somewhat delayed compared to the previous ones. (IOW, based on the historical pattern, we're overdue for a Really Big Chill. A 30 year cooling caused by factors other than those that cause the long cycles, could push us over the edge.
I just hope San Antonio is far enough south, at least for the next 20 or 25 years, after which, I'm not likely to care much, although my kids and grand-kids would. :)