A drop in solar activity has the potential to effect the climate on earth.

The sun has reached a milestone not seen for nearly 100 years.  An entire month has passed without a single visible sunspot being recorded.

This event is significant because many climatologists now believe that solar magnetic activity (which determines the number of sunspots) has an influence on the earth’s climate.

According to data from Mount Wilson Observatory, UCLA, more than an entire month passed without a spot. The last time this occurred was June of 1913. Sunspot data has been collected and recorded since 1749.

When the sun is active it is common to see sunspot numbers of over 100 in a single month. Every 11 years the activity slows and numbers briefly drop to near zero.  Then the sunspots return quickly as a new cycle begins.

This year, however, has been very long and quiet.  The first seven months averaged a sunspot number of only 3. Then August followed with none at all.

In 2005, a pair of astronomers attempted to publish a paper after research on minute spectroscopic and magnetic changes in the sun. They reached the conclusion that within 10 years sunspots would vanish altogether. Most of their peers laughed at their conclusion and their paper was rejected.

Similar events in the past 1000 years have all led to rapid cooling. One was large enough to be called a “mini ice age”. Because our society is dependent on agriculture, cold is more damaging than heat. The growing season would shorten, yields would drop, and the crop-destroying frosts would increase.