WCR reports on an article written in the Journal of Climate about reconstructing European temperature via analysis of tree ring data. Excerpt:
Büntgen et al. write “The reconstruction indicates positive temperatures in the tenth and thirteenth century that resemble twentieth-century conditions, and are separated by a prolonged cooling from ~1350 to 1700.” Further, they note “Maximum temperature amplitude over the past 1250 yr is estimated to be 3.1°C between the warmest (1940s) and coldest (1810s) decades.” Also, the team writes “Warm summers seem to coincide with periods of high solar activity, and cold summers vice versa.”
Their reconstruction coincides with the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age. Of course this is just more evidence that it’s the Sun we need to watch out for and not our gas tanks. Real fear should come when one considers the consequences of the Sun deciding to ratchet back it’s activity. We have more to fear from cooling than warming.