Just a casual Astronomer. More into Solar events pertaining to Amateur(Ham) Radio & their effects on shortwave radio signals. Sunspots charge the F layer in the Ionosphere allowing signals to bounce around the earth. With the solar minimum at the moment, signal range is greatly affected, were as back in 2010 - 12 when we where in Solar Maximum it was quite easy to make radio contacts on the other side of the world.

There are a few theories that Sun Spots play a part in the Earth`s weather patterns. Might be just a coincidence but back in 2010 - 13, there seemed to be a lot more rainfall about. Lake Eyre was full & so were the major dams in my area. Previous to this we had the Millennial Drought which occurred at the same time as the last Solar Minimum.

The cycle is around 11 years, so should be back in Max around 2021 - 2023, but knowing how strong it will be is anyone's guess.

Still have a lot to learn about this subject!