Cold winter coming?

I never have been one to put a lot of stock into long term forecasting of weather so I was a bit skeptical when I read recently that the 2008 Farmers Almanac is predicting a cooler than normal winter this year. After all, the article says it is written at least a year in advance and that whoever wrote it has already finished the prediction for 2009.

Anyway, today I came across another interesting bit about a volcano in Alaska. Normally, I wouldn't pay much attention to that, particularly since it is only discussing the increased color in sunsets. However, not long ago, I read about the year without summer. If you read it, you will notice that it was likely caused by a volcano, albeit a much larger one. Now, obviously a single volcanic eruption that was relatively small shouldn't make a big difference. However, that's not the only factor.

Yesterday, I came across this article that says the sun did something it hasn't done in over 90 years, and that is go an entire month without a single sunspot. Reading that article, you find that one previous instance like that correlated closely to what is referred to as the Little Ice Age.

Ultimately, no one really knows for sure. However, all these little pieces put together appear to be pointing to a cooler than average winter, global warming notwithstanding.