Hathaway (the NASA solar expert in the middle of these comments) has been “pushing” his theories that Solar Cycle 24 would be very high, peak very early, and last a very long time. He predicted solar cycle 24 would be clearly starting as early as summer 2006 - that would mean a sunspot count of 35-50 average.
However, these handful of spots in October, preceded by ONE spot in September, and ONE spot way back in January just MIGHT mean that “his cycle” is finally beginning to slope up. Maybe. If cycle 24 is actually going up - we might not be facing the problems of several cold decades like in the Dalton Minimum.
Then again - unlike Gore, I don’t we can control the sun with a democrat majority.
“A new high-latitude sunspot is emerging in the sun’s northern hemisphere. “ SpaceWeather.com
It’s warmer already! +6 this morning!