{"id":1909,"date":"2010-04-15T09:05:05","date_gmt":"2010-04-15T09:05:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/astrologicalmusings\/2010\/04\/low-solar-activity-linked-to-c.html"},"modified":"2010-04-15T09:05:05","modified_gmt":"2010-04-15T09:05:05","slug":"low-solar-activity-linked-to-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/2010\/04\/low-solar-activity-linked-to-c.html","title":{"rendered":"Low solar activity linked to cool UK winter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"Apple-style-span\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/astrodynamics.net\/blog\/2010\/04\/UK-winter.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-5459\" src=\"https:\/\/astrodynamics.net\/blog\/2010\/04\/UK-winter.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" style=\"border-top-width: 0px;border-right-width: 0px;border-bottom-width: 0px;border-left-width: 0px;border-style: initial;border-color: initial;float: right\" \/><\/a>&nbsp;Last year&#8217;s cold winter sparked a huge resurgence into the global warming debate. &nbsp;If the earth is warming, why did we have a cold winter?<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve been in a &#8220;Solar Minimum&#8221; since about 2006, a long period with virtually no solar activity. &nbsp;I&#8217;ve been writing about this for quite some time in these pages as you&#8217;ll see&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/astrodynamics.net\/blog\/?s=sunspots&amp;x=0&amp;y=0\" target=\"_blank\">from these links<\/a>. &nbsp;Much of the hysteria over 2012 stems from the fact that we were due for a Solar Maximum period in 2012 which could create chaos in communication systems and electrical grids, but the extended minimum period, which ended just this year, suggests that we won&#8217;t hit the Solar Maximum period now until at least 2014.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/2\/hi\/science\/nature\/8615789.stm\" target=\"_blank\">Researchers in the UK<\/a>&nbsp;have now identified a link between low sunspot activity and atmospheric conditions on Earth. &nbsp;This year&#8217;s winter, according to Professor Mike Lockwood, was the coldest in 160 years. &nbsp;He attributes the connection to a phenomenon called &#8220;blocking&#8221; which involvles the movement of the jet stream of the northern hemisphere.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;If you haven&#8217;t got blocking, then the jet stream brings the mild, wet westerly winds to give us the weather we are famous for.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But, he added, if the jet stream is &#8220;blocked&#8221;, and pushed further northwards, then cold, dry winds from the east flow over Europe, resulting in a sharp fall in temperatures.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This&#8230; &#8216;blocking&#8217; does seem to be one of the things that can be modulated by solar activity,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Recent studies suggest that when solar activity is low, &#8220;blocking&#8221; events move eastwards from above north-eastern North America towards Europe, and become more stable.<\/p>\n<p>A prolonged &#8220;blocking&#8221; during the most recent winter was responsible for the long spell of freezing conditions that gripped Europe.<\/p>\n<p>Written observations from the period of the Maunder Minimum referred to the wind coming from the east during particularly cold winters, which strengthened the team&#8217;s &#8220;blocking&#8221; hypothesis.<\/p>\n<p>The way in which solar activity affects the behaviour of blocking episodes is linked to the amount of ultraviolet (UV) emissions being produced by the Sun.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"font-style: italic\"><a href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/2\/hi\/science\/nature\/8615789.stm\" target=\"_blank\">read more here&#8230;<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;Last year&#8217;s cold winter sparked a huge resurgence into the global warming debate. &nbsp;If the earth is warming, why did we have a cold winter? We&#8217;ve been in a &#8220;Solar Minimum&#8221; since about 2006, a long period with virtually no solar activity. &nbsp;I&#8217;ve been writing about this for quite some time in these pages as&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":328,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-93","category-astronomy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Low solar activity linked to cool UK winter - Astrological Musings<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/2010\/04\/low-solar-activity-linked-to-c.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Low solar activity linked to cool UK winter - Astrological Musings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp;Last year&#8217;s cold winter sparked a huge resurgence into the global warming debate. &nbsp;If the earth is warming, why did we have a cold winter? We&#8217;ve been in a &#8220;Solar Minimum&#8221; since about 2006, a long period with virtually no solar activity. &nbsp;I&#8217;ve been writing about this for quite some time in these pages as&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/2010\/04\/low-solar-activity-linked-to-c.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Astrological Musings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-04-15T09:05:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/astrodynamics.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/UK-winter.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynn Hayes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Low solar activity linked to cool UK winter - Astrological Musings","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/2010\/04\/low-solar-activity-linked-to-c.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Low solar activity linked to cool UK winter - Astrological Musings","og_description":"&nbsp;Last year&#8217;s cold winter sparked a huge resurgence into the global warming debate. &nbsp;If the earth is warming, why did we have a cold winter? We&#8217;ve been in a &#8220;Solar Minimum&#8221; since about 2006, a long period with virtually no solar activity. &nbsp;I&#8217;ve been writing about this for quite some time in these pages as&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/2010\/04\/low-solar-activity-linked-to-c.html","og_site_name":"Astrological Musings","article_published_time":"2010-04-15T09:05:05+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/astrodynamics.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/UK-winter.jpg"}],"author":"Lynn Hayes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/2010\/04\/low-solar-activity-linked-to-c.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/2010\/04\/low-solar-activity-linked-to-c.html","name":"Low solar activity linked to cool UK winter - Astrological Musings","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/2010\/04\/low-solar-activity-linked-to-c.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/2010\/04\/low-solar-activity-linked-to-c.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/astrodynamics.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/UK-winter.jpg","datePublished":"2010-04-15T09:05:05+00:00","dateModified":"2010-04-15T09:05:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/#\/schema\/person\/0267afd41b8c0ee7204a5063b003a35f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/2010\/04\/low-solar-activity-linked-to-c.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/2010\/04\/low-solar-activity-linked-to-c.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/2010\/04\/low-solar-activity-linked-to-c.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/astrodynamics.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/UK-winter.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/astrodynamics.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/UK-winter.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/2010\/04\/low-solar-activity-linked-to-c.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Low solar activity linked to cool UK winter"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/","name":"Astrological Musings","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Lynn Hayes","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/#\/schema\/person\/0267afd41b8c0ee7204a5063b003a35f","name":"Lynn Hayes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/d66\/d66c632862817d88a0ce2af3a36c4050x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/d66\/d66c632862817d88a0ce2af3a36c4050x96.jpg","caption":"Lynn Hayes"},"description":"Lynn Hayes has been a practising astrological consultant in beautiful North Carolina for over 25 years, working with clients all over the world both in person and by phone. 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Visit www.astrodynamics.net for more information.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/author\/lynnhayes"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/328"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/astrologicalmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}