Seymour Flops
Diamond Member
The Effects of the Little Ice Age (c. 1300-1850)
- The Little Ice Age was a period of wide-spread cooling from around 1300 to around 1850 CE when average global temperatures dropped by as much as 2°C (3.6°F), particularly in Europe and North America.
- Cooling happened in phases, with an initial drop around 1300 and an even colder climate starting around 1560 and lasting to 1850.
- Changes in climate did not happen uniformly around the globe. Cooling episodes in the Southern Hemisphere, such as in New Zealand and Patagonia, did not occur at the same time as cooling in the Northern Hemisphere. Some areas did not even experience cooling, such as eastern China. Europe experienced heavy rainfall while Africa and central and southern Asia experienced droughts. North America experienced both cooler temperatures and a drier period.
- Evidence of cooling can be found in ice cores, tree rings, and other proxy paleoclimatic indicators. Additionally, there are written records from the time period and, beginning in 1659, direct meteorological measurement in Europe.
- Climatologists believe that a combination of reduced solar output, changes in atmospheric circulation and increased volcanism may have caused the Little Ice Age.
Humanity did not die out during the Little Ice Age, and it is highly unlikely that we will die out during the warming that follows it. Humanity thrived and spread during the last full-blown Ice Age. No reason the think it won't happen again.
Interesting that tree rings provide evidence of the Little Ice Age. I've never seen any claim of tree rings providing evidence for any current "global warming" period. What would it be called? The Little Warm age? The Age of Earth Fever?
Best name: The Panic that Wasn't.