If you think this is a harsh winter...

[Tom Rankin]

Evidence that Halley's Comet may have caused a '10 year winter'.

 

[DougPaul]

If you think this is a harsh winter...

You might try the Little Ice Age http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ice_Age, a portion of which coincided with the Maunder Minimum (sunspot minimum, ~1645-- ~1715) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maunder_Minimum.

The article on the Little Ice Age describes a number of causes of cold spells.

Doug

 

[Tito Alba]

Just happened to have a conversation last week on the Tapestry of Bayeux (having just passed through that French town) and now this!
I thought that comet looked familiar! How cold was it at the Battle of Hastings?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapestry_of_Bayeux

 

[Peakbagr]

Imagine if this happened now? Fragile farm and ranch to market pipelines, over population in many places. People sell out supermarkets like it's the apocalypse when a 3 day winter storm is coming. Would make World War Z look like wishful thinking as people kill each other for food, supplies and warmth.

 

[DougPaul]

Extended "cold snaps" have certainly caused massive famines in the past. See, for instance, the Year Without a Summer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Without_a_Summer.


Doug

 

[sierra]

Dam comet its freakin cold thanks. next time, fly by some other planet.

 

[dave.m]

Is Swix Polar the correct wax of the day for the ice apocalypse? Or could get by with just Green?

I haven't been able to ski the trees in Boston's Blue Hills for well over 5 years. Not for lack of trying. Maybe 1 or 2 days if you hit it just right and don't mind thin cover. Just sayin'

 

[DougPaul]

Is Swix Polar the correct wax of the day for the ice apocalypse? Or could get by with just Green?

The Inuit use ice on their sled runners when it gets really cold...

I have some Polar, but I can't recall ever using it as a kick wax. (I have used it as a glide wax.) The coldest kick wax that I have used is special green.

I haven't been able to ski the trees in Boston's Blue Hills for well over 5 years. Not for lack of trying. Maybe 1 or 2 days if you hit it just right and don't mind thin cover. Just sayin'

I've already ski bushwacked this winter in Estabrook Woods (Concord/Carlisle MA) and my friend has skied the trees on Punkatasset Hill (in Estabrook Woods). I skied the trees too, but my friend is far better at it than I am...

Doug

 

[Creag Nan Drochaid]

Battle of Hastings was 10/14/1066, or 14 Oct 1066. Weather was dry, sunny, and not so cold as to be remarkable in later histories. Methinks it happened during a warm period, since the Little Ice Age started in 1300.

 

[marnof]

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25771510

This is an interesting report about harsh winters correlating with low solar activity, and what it could mean for winters in our future. Good news for ski resorts, not so much for farmers.

 

[DougPaul]

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25771510

This is an interesting report about harsh winters correlating with low solar activity, and what it could mean for winters in our future. Good news for ski resorts, not so much for farmers.

Unfortunately the report is just a short paragraph with little detail.

We are currently near the peak of the 11-year sunspot cycle. However, sunspot numbers have been very low. This is disappointing to aurora watchers and those who enjoy certain types of radio signal propagation, but I have no idea what effect this might have on our short-term weather.

The Maunder Minimum (a ~70 year period of low sunspot numbers) did coincide with the middle part of the Little Ice Age. According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maunder_Minimum, data from NASA's Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment has indicated that low sunspot number do indeed cause cold winters.

Doug

 

[marnof]

If you're interested in grand minima, maxima etc. http://nextgrandminimum.wordpress.com covers the topic pretty well.

I was fascinated to read that the sun's poles recently switched polarity--nothing unusual about that. Except this time the southern pole forgot to flop and they're both matched. These are interesting times to live in, notwithstanding the purported Chinese curse.

I've been meaning to get Fritz Vahrenholt's/Sebastian Luning's Die Kalte Sonne, since it was translated not too long ago. The English title is The Neglected Sun, rather than the literal translation of The Cold Sun.