My water well drilling business was directly affected by this solar cycle in the 1980's in Johannesburg South Africa. I began drilling water wells in 1983 as the drought took hold and Southern Africa suffered a terrible drought with crops failing everywhere. I had plenty of work while there were no sunspots and no rain, but when the sunspots returned in 1987, so did the rain and that was the end of my drilling business. The area that I worked in was a summer rainfall area, not like the winter rainfall area around Cape Town. Now with low sunspot activity, the eastern half of the country has enjoyed great rain in the last 2 years, even up until the last 10 days, while the area around Cape Town has had at least 2 years of bad drought. Before the last two years there was a drought on in South Africa in the eastern half in the summer rainfall area up until 2016, which correlated nicely with the droughts every 11 years in South Africa.. Now there is more rainfall. Maybe the weather is saying that the sun spots will soon be returning, even though they are predicted to be absent until 2019/2010.
Chris Landau
Geologist/Meteorologist and amateur astronomer
April 1, 2018 5.45 pm (after April 1st midday cut off time for April Fools day jokes)
I no longer do geology or meteorology but write science fiction and short stories.
My water well drilling business was directly affected by this solar cycle in the 1980's in Johannesburg South Africa. I began drilling water wells in 1983 as the drought took hold and Southern Africa suffered a terrible drought with crops failing everywhere. I had plenty of work while there were no sunspots and no rain, but when the sunspots returned in 1987, so did the rain and that was the end of my drilling business. The area that I worked in was a summer rainfall area, not like the winter rainfall area around Cape Town. Now with low sunspot activity, the eastern half of the country has enjoyed great rain in the last 2 years, even up until the last 10 days, while the area around Cape Town has had at least 2 years of bad drought. Before the last two years there was a drought on in South Africa in the eastern half in the summer rainfall area up until 2016, which correlated nicely with the droughts every 11 years in South Africa.. Now there is more rainfall. Maybe the weather is saying that the sun spots will soon be returning, even though they are predicted to be absent until 2019/2010.
Chris Landau
Geologist/Meteorologist and amateur astronomer
April 1, 2018 5.45 pm (after April 1st midday cut off time for April Fools day jokes)
I no longer do geology or meteorology but write science fiction and short stories.