The Cold Experiment

The reduced solar activity of this solar sunspot cycle is similar to the Dalton Minimum of 1790-1820. We are engaged in an involuntary experiment to determine if solar activity is the major driver of climate variation. Good luck.

To put the Dalton Minimum in perspective, the Little Ice Age was 1.5-degrees Centigrade lower than present. At that temperature, the Thames froze each winter sufficiently to drive horse-drawn sleighs and to hold the annual "Frost Fairs" on the ice. The Thames has not frozen during the lifetime of anyone living.

As to the cooling of 1880-1915, I used to talk to some old timers who logged the most northwestern county (Ashe) in North Carolina. They would log during the winter because they could sled timber out on the frozen river. That river hasn't frozen since that cooling period ended, thus during the lifetime of any but the most eldest of citizens still living.