A major solar flare associated with a new, giant sunspot, indicates increasing solar activity as our Sun approaches its 11-year peak (maximum is forecast to occur in 2011). If the sunspot count is particularly high this cycle, we can expect increasing global temperatures as the predominant climatological change generator (the Sun) heats up the planet.
From SpaceWeather.com:
Earth-orbiting satellites detected a major X9-class solar flare this morning at 1035 UT (5:35 a.m. EST). The source: big, new sunspot 929, which is emerging over the Sun’s eastern limb. GOES-13 captured this X-ray image of the blast:
Because of the sunspot’s location near the limb, the flare was not Earth-directed. Future eruptions could be, however, because the Sun’s spin is turning the spot toward Earth. Sunspot 929 will be visible for the next two weeks as it glides across the solar disk.
Al Gore and his band of Greenbats ought to get a clue about actual climate science. How dare they compare anthropogenic climate effects to those of this giant stellar monster? HOW DARE THEY?
The graph below shows worldwide temperatures since the last ice age which occurred over ten thousand years ago. The data used to plot this graph have been assembled from reliable scientific research. Notice that over the last 1000 years (see inset), the temperature dropped from the medieval warm period down to the “little ice age” and rebounded since that time. Why, then, does the “hockey stick” not show this? The answer is simple — the “hockey stick” contains flawed data prior to 1900 AD. Notice also that there’s nothing remarkable about the current warming bubble. If solar activity continues to increase, there’s not much anybody can do about it, but will it be that bad or will we 
In a previous article, I established that the average global temperature has generally risen over the past century. The graphic to the right (courtesy NOAA) clearly shows this temperature increase. There is little doubt that the planet is warming and that global temperature trends over the past 400 years have been directly proportional to 
The graphic to the left (Courtesy 
The forecasting team of Philip Klotzbach and William Gray today released a new report that calls for two more named storms, one more hurricane and no more intense or major (Saffir/Simpson category 3-4-5) hurricanes for the remainder of the hurricane season (October-November). With the observed activity through September 2006 of nine named storms, five hurricanes and two major hurricanes, a total of 11 named storms are predicted to form in the Atlantic basin during 2006 with six of these predicted to become hurricanes. Two major hurricanes with sustained winds of 111 mph or greater have already formed, and the forecast team does not expect any more major hurricane formations this year.
Here’s a few current news items that sparked our interest:
Considering the results in total, the Dutch and Spanish researchers conclude that, over the last two decades of the 20th century, “Europe as a whole has a tendency to greening,” and much of it is “seeing an increase in its wood land proportion.”