SNOWFALL IN OMAN

You know, btw, that our sun is an 11 year variable star (type G2v)? That graph is not too suprising. The last ice age was about 10,000 years ago, and it’s been speculated that we’re currently in a temporary lull, maybe because of the gulf stream sending equatorial heat northward. It could all change of course, the exact causes still largely random however.

Randomness does not produce repeating cycles. Actually, the El Nino and La Nina temperature oscillations in the Pacific have a greater significance on the Earths climate considering the larger volume of water in the Pacific. Right now the Pacific Ocean is experiencing a massive La Nina. Cold water upwellings are occurring in the Eastern Pacific that come up from the deep ocean and they are traveling west pushed by the trade winds. During a La Nina you get a lot of moisture in the Pacific Northwest. Perhaps eventually the Atlantic Gulf Stream will stop, but if you look at the amount of snow that has fallen in the Northwest US this winter, you could get the impression that the next Ice Age began to show itself this winter, at least in the north west. The question is, what is causing cycles that have been occurring since long before humans settled as farmers.

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