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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Expect wetter, cooler weather

The Spokesman-Review

Last Thursday, I was a guest on a morning radio show. Topics ranged from what’s in store for our upcoming winter season, global warming, La Niña and more. One caller commented about the sun’s solar activity and its effect on global temperatures.

Many scientists say that it’s the sun that’s to be given the main blame (or credit) for the latest cycle of warming on the planet. They believe that changes in sunspots, or storms on the sun, and other solar activity correlates closely with the climate of Earth, explaining the ice ages and periods of great warming.

It’s also been discovered that there has been solar-induced warming of all the planets, not just the Earth, and has recurred on a predictable basis for thousands of years.

According to Professor Nigel Weiss, a much-honored scientist at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge in England, who has also been a past President of the Royal Astronomical Society, “our sun has been the most active in at least 1,000 years.”

During what’s called the Medieval Warm Period (800-1300 A.D.), the sun was even more active than today. At that time, the mighty Vikings colonized a lush, verdant Greenland. Britain was a wine-producing country. Tomatoes, grapes and other weather-sensitive plants grew wild in now frigid Labrador in northeastern Canada.

Then, rather suddenly, “the bottom fell out” as far as solar activity was concerned during the major cooling cycle that lasted for five centuries, from 1350 A.D. to 1850 A.D. called the “Little Ice Age.” During the peak of this extremely harsh cycle in the 1600s, sunspots almost completely disappeared for 70 years. During this particular solar “minima” period, the Maunder Minimum, as it’s been called, temperatures became so cold that the New York Harbor froze solid, as did the Thames River east of London. The once-hardy Vikings died by the thousands and were forced to abandon a glacier-covered Greenland, which remains firmly locked in ice today, except along the southern fringes of the continent.

On the other hand, other scholars state that our sun’s effects on overall climate change are minimal and this cycle of warming will continue for many years to come.

As far as our our local weather is concerned, the major change arrived on schedule. Snow has been falling in the higher mountains earlier this week and more is on the way. If all goes according to plan, some local ski resorts may be able to open on a limited basis for skiing and snowboarding during the next few weeks.

The rest of November and early December look wetter and a bit cooler than normal across the Inland Northwest. The last week of November, however, may be cold and dry before another round of rain and snow moves into the region. Accumulating snows, even in the lower elevations, may be seen during that time, but there’s a better chance to see plenty of snow from mid-December into early-to-mid January during what I believe will be the peak of this winter season.

As far as the chances of a white Christmas, I think they’re better than 50-50.