Start saving up for those snow tires

What the hell am I talking about, you may ask? It is the middle of June, fercrssakes!

Well, just an FYI for those living outside the Puget Sound region: It is the middle of June and I do not need all the fingers on my right hand to count the number of days we’ve have had locally which were above 70 degrees so far in 2011.

Hell, I fired up the wood stove again last night.

The answer?

Some unusual solar readings, including fading sunspots and weakening magnetic activity near the poles, could be indications that our sun is preparing to be less active in the coming years.

The results of three separate studies seem to show that even as the current sunspot cycle swells toward the solar maximum, the sun could be heading into a more-dormant period, with activity during the next 11-year sunspot cycle greatly reduced or even eliminated.

The results of the new studies were announced today (June 14) at the annual meeting of the solar physics division of the American Astronomical Society, which is being held this week at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces.

…..

“If we are right, this could be the last solar maximum we’ll see for a few decades,” Hill said. “That would affect everything from space exploration to Earth’s climate.”

I’ll be waiting around here for the gullibles, telling me “B-b-b-but the sun has nothing to do with the Earth’s climate! AlGore told me so!”