Cold weather - Could it have affected the Anasazi?

Very interesting article concerning the Anasazi Migration.

An explanation for recent cold weather
Posted: Thursday, Jan 8th, 2009

SAN LUIS VALLEY — While Al Gore and other like-minded politicians and environmentalists continued to warn the world that global warming is threatening to end civilization as we know it, winters in the Valley grew colder. And summer temperatures this year were below normal in many places, not just the Valley.

So what’s up?

A fierce debate among the scientific community has now resulted in some scientists questioning the global warming theory. In a recent article written Dec. 30 in Investor’s Business Daily, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration registered 63 local snowfall records and 115 lowest-ever temperatures for the month of October.



Global thermometers stopped rising after 1998, and have plummeted in the last two years by more than 0.5 degrees Celsius. The 2007-2008 temperature drop was not predicted by global climate models.

Imagine that. The experts predict an increase in temperature and instead we see a decrease.

The cause? Sunspot activity, which has steadily declined since 2000, according to scientific observation. While a new sunspot cycle began last year, and the beginning of each cycle usually is marked by an increase in sunspot activity, 2008 was “eerily quiet,” observers say. In August no sunspot activity was noted at all, something that has not happened since 1913. When the sunspot cycle is active, it is not unusual to see 100 sunspots per month.

Rather than warming, could earth actually be entering a cooling cycle? From studies of cyclic weather patterns in the past, a good number of scientists say this is exactly what is happening. They cite data gathered on “the Little Ice Age,” which records seem to indicate lasted from 1250 A.D. to about 1850 A.D.

Could this explain the sudden exodus of the Anasazi (Ancient Ones) from Southern Colorado and other areas?

The Little Ice Age significantly cooled climates in most parts of the world. Temperatures were the coldest in the 16th and 17th centuries, then began to rise in 1850. NOAA statistics show limited solar activity during the Little Ice Age, but a notable in activity in recent times.

During the Little Ice Age, temperatures averaged form 1-1.5 degrees cooler, Celsius, (2-3 degrees Fahrenheit), than temperatures experienced only a few years ago. Decreased solar activity accounted for some of the cooling, but large volcanic eruptions also accounted for the cooling