# The ice age cometh? Not so fast, buster!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ice-age-cometh-not-so-fast-buster/446822>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [April 25, 2008, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ice-age-cometh-not-so-fast-buster/446822 "2008-04-25T08:51:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2008, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ice-age-cometh-not-so-fast-buster/446822/1 "2008-04-25T08:51:28Z")

</div>

Phil Chapman, an Australian astronaut, fears for global cooling [here](http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23583376-7583,00.html).

Not so fast, buster!

NASA say that it takes about [3 years](http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/predict.shtml) to determine a cycle. We’re at a solar minimum, so low sunspot activity is to be expected.

And that cycle of 11.1 years? Well, 3 cycles ago, there was snow in Buxton in [June](http://www.buckinghamhotel.co.uk/snow-in-june.htm), but the next year was a scorcher. And 2 cycles ago, we had very bad weather and the Great Storm. And yes, this winter has been bad, but that’s expected. You’ve got to look over a longer term.

Let’s give it a few years before raising any red flags.