Blowout Week 209
This week’s lead story features the imminent return of the Ice Age to UK – good news for those looking forward to a White Christmas. After that the usual mix: record production from the Permian, Putin replaces petroleum with natural gas; New England replaces natural gas with petroleum; nuclear plant restarts and shutdowns in Japan; German factories paid for using electricity; batteries and the California Duck Curve, solar in the Canadian Arctic; renewables in South Korea; the Scotland-Wales transmission link, UK frackers running out of time; the brutal US-Canada cold snap; Santa relocates to the South Pole and a Happy New Year to all.
Sky News: Scientists predict ‘mini ice age’ could hit UK by 2030
A mini ice age that would freeze major rivers could hit Britain in less than two decades, according to research from universities in the UK and Russia.
A mathematical model of the Sun’s magnetic activity suggests temperatures could start dropping from 2021, with the potential for winter skating on the River Thames by 2030. A team led by maths professor Valentina Zharkova at Northumbria University built on work from Moscow to predict the movements of two magnetic waves produced by the Sun. It predicts rapidly decreasing magnetic waves for three solar cycles beginning in 2021 and lasting 33 years. Very low magnetic activity on the Sun correspond with historically documented cold periods on Earth. Professor Zharkova claims 97% accuracy for the model which dovetails with previous mini ice ages, including the Maunder Minimum period from 1645 to 1715 when frost fairs were held on the frozen Thames. But she cautions that her mathematical research cannot be used as proof that there will be a mini ice age this time around, not least because of global warming.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
