Batten Down The Hatches 2010/11

[hexah]

The sun has been very quiet for the last few years with low numbers of sunspots, the lowest in almost 100 years.

Some scientists think we may be heading for a prolonged minimum, maybe even a new Dalton Minimum. In the past, low sunspot counts have always been associated with very cold snowy winters in Northern Europe. The La Niña event is also making the sea colder, which doesn't help. The evidence from the minima of the cycles this century shows that the land and sea cools significantly within a couple of years. So when the sun stays quiet, there will be worse winter weather with more snow.

If it gets as bad as the medieval Maunder Minimum, with winters like 1708-9 and fairs on the thick ice sheets on the Thames in London, I expect migration to Spain will reach an all time high.


BBC Scotland will be showing a new edition of "Frozen Scotland" on Sunday at 17.30. It looks like it will be snowing again by then.

 

[Lazarus]

Deep joy )(-red

 

[PaulR]

the problem right now is ruts: Snow in the middle of the single track lane hasn't melted but the wheel tracks either side of centre are clear ............... so one's ar*e scrapes along the snow in the middle, so to speak.

In such a situation I simply touch the ride height button of my C5 and raise the car by two inches. If it's really difficult going I can raise it to six inches if need be.

Now, where's that smug smiley?

 

[sonnetpete]

If it's really difficult going I can raise it to six inches if need be.

Now that's just bragging!

 

[hexah]

In such a situation I simply touch the ride height button of my C5 and raise the car by two inches. If it's really difficult going I can raise it to six inches if need be.

Your Sinclair C5 is barely 6 inches off the ground, so that is only a foot of clearance in total.


O-Ha

 

[Lazarus]

Yes, my own first thought was "Sinclair" ................ mind you, if Paul has one of those, it'll be worth a lot of money now!


(Must go turn over the elastic band on my Bond Bug)

 

[PaulR]

Yes, my own first thought was "Sinclair"

Tchhh. Such limited minds...

 

[pgh13]

If it gets as bad as the medieval Maunder Minimum, with winters like 1708-9 and fairs on the thick ice sheets on the Thames in London, I expect migration to Spain will reach an all time high.

What will the greenhouse gas / global warming brigade make of that?

 

[Lazarus]

Oh come now, it's nearly +6C outside and I'm sweltering.































Indoors!

 

[2cvbloke]

It's all gone!!!! :-crying

Still, I preferred the snow, not the ice that formed after it rained and turned the snow to slush that froze solid and was bluddy slippy this morning when going to asda at 4 in the morning, positive temperatures and inch+ thick ice is a lethal combination...

 

[Lazarus]

Loads still here - I topped up my Loft Insulation last year and it works. Most folks roofs are now clear, but mine is not. And I keep hearing ominous noises as stuff starts to slide.

 

[hexah]

What will the greenhouse gas / global warming brigade make of that?

They will put it in their pipe and smoke it.

:toke:​

Here is a sensible article about the decline in sunspots, from New Scientist:


_http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627640.800-whats-wrong-with-the-sun.html?full=true


It is partly based on a paper by a Reading University scientist and others, "Are cold winters in Europe associated with low solar activity?" published in the peer reviewed scientific journal Environmental Research Letters. It was inspired by the cold winter of 2009-10, which inspired the original Batten Down The Hatches thread.

The answer is yes, but the authors think there is only an 8% chance of a new Maunder Minimum and another Little Ice Age. Solar activity warms Northern Europe more than elsewhere and the decline in sunspots means Northern Europe will be cooler than it was in the 20th century. NASA now think the next solar cycle will also have few sunspots, a state of affairs that will go on to around 2030.

​

 

[hexah]

Here is a clearer explanation of the research. It's a lot to do with the jet stream shifting south, allowing cold air and wind to sink in from the north (the Arctic) and north east (Russia & Siberia). Which is what's forecast for next week...

_http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100414/full/news.2010.184.html


This is a great piece about the problems of combining 17th century data and 21st century data:

"Unless solar science comes up with a way to deal with the advances in technology and properly merge it into the older human-optical record, the sunspot record will start looking like the surface temperature record, with upwards trends due to adjustments (or lack thereof)."

_http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/07/30/sunspots-at-high-detail-now-available-from-sdo-what-will-this-do-to-the-sunspot-count/

 

[mich181189]

Here in York the city centre is ice free, but on the edges there's a LOT of ice -the snow from last week didn't melt, it just became rough ice until yesterday when it started to melt, at which point there was a layer of water on ice and it was insanely slippery, then now that water's frozen on top of the ice leaving inch thick polished sheet ice... Almost impossible to move on the stuff!

 

[Analoguesat]

Well we have almost had a flash thaw - virtually all the lying snow has gone in the last couple of days. The stuff that was piled up is still around but thats about it. The field opposite has a massive pond in it from the runoff - with small lumps of ice bobbing around in it

The path outside the cottage has suffered badly from frost heave which has lifted the soil up under the tarmac - I'll have to take the head of the sledgehammer to it and tamp it down best as I can again......

 

[Channel Hopper]

Enjoy the next couple of days. From Tuesday night it starts again.

 

[2cvbloke]

Frosty start this morning after a foggy night, and doesn't look set to warm up much today either...

 

[Lazarus]

Mild and drizzly (First non-frozen precipitation for a good while) right now.

My Gas Bottles finally turned up at 17.30 yesterday ................... poor Driver had his entire weekend off cancelled just so they could catch up on the backlog of Orders caused by increased usage and the fact that Bulk Supplies went AWOL for a few days. He reckoned he wouldn't finished until after 9pm and seemed vexed about missing something called the X Factor. Is that a Dance Competition ?????????

 

[sonnetpete]

A lovely day here, sunny with some cloud and temperatures hovering near a balmy 8°C. It made for a pleasant 3 hour round trip to the airport at Rennes where I dropped off my stepdaughter and her boyfriend for their return flight to Southampton.

No, 'X Factor' is not a dance competition, it should be retitled 'Make Simon Cowell Yet Another Million'.

 

[Channel Hopper]

No, 'X Factor' is not a dance competition, it should be retitled 'Make Simon Cowell Yet Another Million'.

Plus, it's rigged, allegedly

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