A review of the book 'Dark Winter'

There is a new book out entitled; DARK WINTER, by John L. Casey, a former White House National Space Agency Advisor, NASA Head-quarters consultant and Space Shuttle engineer.

Casey in this book tells what I believe to be the TRUTH about ominous changes currently beginning to take place on the sun.

Casey's decade of research into the Sun's activity resulted in his discovery of a cooler cycle with far less than normal sunspots that will bring on a long series of 'brutally harsh' winter seasons around the globe. He believes that this new EXTREMELY FRIGID CLIMATE will "dramatically impact the world's citizens."

In his book, Casey provides convincing evidence of the following:

1. That GLOBAL WARMING has already ended.

2. That we have begun to see a 30-YEAR COLD CYCLE of 'SOLAR HIBERNATION,' a historic reduction in the energy output of the Sun.

3. We should see a sharp long-term drop in the average temperature of the Earth.

4. This rather 'sudden' climate change to the colder side of the mercurial scale should bring on decades of DANGEROUSLY, SOMETIMES FATAL, COLD CONDITIONS.

5. Casey also predicts an extended period of a record number of EARTHQUAKES and VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS, especially in the 'Ring of Fire' nations surrounding the Pacific Ocean.

As I've mentioned frequently in my newspaper columns over the past 50 years, including nearly 25 years with the Coeur d'Alene Press, there are definite cycles of 'GREAT ICE EPOCHS' that recur on a regular basis of approximately every 200, 400, 800 and 2,000 years.

The last really frigid cycle occurred during what has been called the 'Dalton Minimum' in the early 1800s and at the end of the 'Little Ice Age.' The previous 'Maunder Minimum' cold weather phase in the early to mid 1600s actually froze the Thames River in London most winter seasons. This allowed residents to hold annual 'Ice Fairs.'

Casey's predictions for EXTREME COLD will likely result in an INCREASED DEADLY FAMINE on a global scale sometime within the next 2-5 years or sooner as I predicted last week. This famine could end up being the worst such shortage of food worldwide in at least 800 years, since the early 1200s.

The last time that we saw an extremely cold cycle in the early 1800s, most people grew at least some of their own food. Now, 200 years later, most people on Earth are 'urban dwellers' totally dependent on fewer and fewer farmers each year. With more than 7 billion mouths to feed on the planet, as John Casey said, "We are in BIG TROUBLE!"

But, once we get through the cold period in the late 2010s and 2020s, the 2030s look to be much warmer, perhaps hotter than in 1998 when the Earth's temperature peaked. I also see lots of snow coming, perhaps as early as the late 2010s, but the winter of 2020-21 here in North Idaho could see snowfall totals over 200 inches in the valley. Stay tuned.

NORTH IDAHO WEATHER REVIEW AND LONG-RANGE OUTLOOKS

We enjoyed the second warmest Thanksgiving on record on Thursday. The mercury reached a springlike 55 degrees in Coeur d'Alene at 3:15 p.m. Spokane and Athol also hit 55 degrees. The mildest spots were Post Falls and Rathdrum each with 57 degrees. Our warmest Thanksgiving in town occurred in 1949 with 58 degrees. Driving conditions were great, no rain or snow.

It was still 50 degrees in Coeur d'Alene early Friday morning, but much colder weather was heading our direction due to arrive over the weekend dropping temperatures at least 30 degrees and possibly bringing a bit of snow to the lowlands before things turned cold and mostly sunny much of this week.

The problem with seeing significant snows below 2,500 feet thus far this 2014-15 winter season, is that we usually have much warmer than normal temperatures during the periods with precipitation and vice-versa during the days with frigid Arctic air, gusty northerly winds and bone-dry conditions. This is what we saw in our record-long 9 day cold snap between Nov. 10-18, when the mercury never topped 32 degrees the entire period.

While the area ski resorts are expected to receive more snow in early to mid December, we may actually see more rain than snow again below 2,500 feet, as it warms up between Dec. 5-10 after the current cold and dry spell ends.

Will we see a 'White Christmas' this year on the valley floor? It's possible even during a mild 'El Nino' winter season, but the chances will be less than 50/50 in Coeur d'Alene that we will have at least an inch of snow on the ground, especially near the warmer lake regions. All that I can say is pray for snow in 'Camelot.'

Cliff Harris is a climatologist who writes a weekly column for The Press. His opinions are his own. Email sfharris@roadrunner.com