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Sunspot activity on the surface of the Sun follows a well-known but little understood 11 year cycle. Activity rises and falls creating the so-called solar maximum and then solar minimum. During a solar maximum, the Sun is more powerful and is littered with sunspots. Conversely when the Sun enters a solar minimum – which it did about two years ago - energy from our host star begins to lessen. However, one expert has warned that the Sun will enter a period of “hibernation” this year, in what as known as a Grand Solar Minimum (GSM). **SNIP** “The reduction in temperature...

A report from Scientific American said there are problems this year for the species of shorebirds that each year descend on the Arctic to mate and raise chicks. It’s because the reproduction happens during the summer, and because of extensive July snow this year, there’s been no summer. The report said the frozen precipitation “sealed the birds off from food and nesting sites.” “Without these key resources avian migrants to the region will not reproduce in 2018, experts say.” The report elaborated that snowmelt usually allows shorebirds to begin nesting on eastern Greenland’s treeless tundra during the first half of...

Five-day average of Antarctic sea ice extent exceeded 20 million square kilometers for first time since 1979. Red line shows average maximum extent from 1979-2014. (NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio/Cindy Starr) An Antarctic sea ice study has found a continuing expansion of ice since 2000, not melting, reported the Washington Post, in a trend that baffles climate change supporters. Scientists don’t fully understand why Antarctic sea ice is growing, said the Post, but the study suggested the phenomenon results from natural variability in the climate system. in this case changes in the tropical Pacific Ocean that reverberate globally.

Snow surrounded a car on Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester during early morning hours on Feb. 7, 1978. The 1978 blizzard blanketed much of the region with snow on Feb. 6 and 7, with 27.1 inches accumulating at Logan Airport. [snip] Gandolf, an Irish setter, watched Martine Carroll, 14, walk down Trenton Street. [snip]

When you consider that a bunch of global warming propagandists, the 19th Conference of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, to reduce “greenhouse gas” emissions has been meeting in Warsaw this month are still claiming that we are in the midst of global warming, you have a demonstration of how great a hoax has been perpetrated on the peoples of the world. These people and the scientists who supplied the falsified and inaccurate climate models to support the global warming claims have committed a criminal fraud.

Not a lot to say regarding the weather. It remains quiet in the tropics but don’t put your guard down just yet.

SACRAMENTO (AP) - One day after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced plans to push his pension overhaul campaign to the ballot later this year, an Assembly hearing into the proposed changes quickly showed more hostility among lawmakers than support. The Democrat-dominated Committee on the Public Sector heard testimony from a Republican lawmaker and key Schwarzenegger official on privatizing the state's pension systems, but openly feuded with them, revealing the growing partisan divide over the issue. "Are we wasting our time here when the governor has already flipped us the bird publicly?" asked Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, during testimony by state...

<p>Drawing such a cool reception that he had to ask the crowd for applause, Gov. Gray Davis on Wednesday told hundreds of California business leaders he understands the strains they face during the state's fiscal crisis.</p> <p>"You are the golden goose, and if you don't succeed we can't succeed," Davis told executives at the 77th annual Sacramento Host Committee Breakfast at the Sacramento Convention Center.</p>