"The consensus view of an international panel of 12 scientists calls for the new cycle, Solar Cycle 25, to be small to average,
much like its predecessor, Solar Cycle 24."
Not so ! - says disagreeing scientist.
We have been watching sunspot cycles for hundreds of years. There is a 22 year cycle, some call it an 11 year cycle but 22 years from start to back to the same place. Besides these 11/22 year cycles there are also various other longer cycles. For a long time we have graphed these cycles and we think we can tell pretty much what is coming next by looking back at the history of similar cycles, however; a new techinique had been developed that allows astronomers to “hear” the sounds from inside the sun. They do this by reading the frequency shift of radio waves bounced off the sun and then reconstruct the sounds waves eminating from inside the sun as they show themselves on the surface. It isn’t a very exact science yet but a few astronomers think they have it down pat and can predict what will happen in the near term of the sun by reading those sound waves.
I have been following the sun for decades as a hobby. I’m not convinced the sound listeners have it right because the history of previous cycles would say we are actually just starting to come out of a grand solar minimum which would mean a couple cycles of realitive calm in sunspot numbers. That calm in sunspot numbers should translate into cooler temperatures on earth like what happened in the Maunder Grand Minimum of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Grand minimums give rise to changing magnetic fields on earth that some say contributes to increases in volcanism which further contributes to cooler weather.
Astronomers can make whatever predictions they want, they are usually far enough out in time that nobody today will remember what they said, they can wax elequent and sound great but be dead wrong but nobody will care when they are dead and nobody will remember these “scientist” who were wrong.
Twenty-two year cycle with alternate northern and southern oscillation of NS and EW oriented magnetic fields.
https://www.exploratorium.edu/sunspots/research4.html