Posted originally on Jan 7, 2025 by Martin Armstrong 

QUESTION: You originally said that we should expect an increase in volcanic activity starting in 2019. I believe you said the Pacific Rim would start to become more active by 2025 on the West side. Do you have any update on that and the prospects of something leading to a volcanic winter? It is getting very cold up here in your former home.

ANSWER: The correlations of volcanic activity to sun activity suggest that we should peak in solar activity here with Solar War 25 in 2025 and begin to decline. I previously reported as follows:

“We are now in Solar Cycle 25 with peak sunspot activity expected in 2025. Solar Cycle 24 which ended in December 2019, was of average in length, at 11 years. However, it was the 4th-smallest intensity since regular record keeping began with Solar Cycle 1 in 1755. We’re now in Solar Cycle 25 and we are still in Solar Minimum conditions at this time. Solar Maximum is predicted to occur midway through this cycle which may come as soon as November 2024 but no later than March 2026, with this ideal peak reaching most likely by July 2025.

Right now, the solar wave is conforming more to our model than that of NASA. The Sun has become far more active than NASA has forecast or expected. NASA is beginning to worry that this Solar Cycle 25 could become the Strongest Cycle Since Records Began. Effectively, in terms of our model terminology, Solar Cycle 25 may be a Panic Cycle. In other words, we appear to be headed into the strongest cycle on record following the weakest cycle. That is high volatility in cycle terminology.”

So far, we have seen a dramatic rise in solar flares as we head into the peak of this Solar Wave 25, which our model still shows ideally should peak this summer. Solar Cycle 25 began in December 2019. If we are going to experience a similar event to the Sun falling into a Maunder-minimum-like (inactive) state (1645-1715), which created the mini-Ice Age, it does not appear to be this cycle. That becomes possible in Solar Cycle 26, which will probably begin from 2029 to 20230. This wave should have a sunspot range of 95 to 130 at the peak. The decline in population we see post-2032 appears to be possible compared to war and the solar minimum.

Solar Minimums appear to be taking place close to a 309.6-year cycle. There have been many studies on the impact of UV and gamma radiation during solar changes and events. Gamma rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation, as are radio waves, infrared radiation, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays, and microwaves. Gamma rays can treat cancer, and astronomers study gamma-ray bursts.

I have also reported that our correlation models show that solar minimums correspond to increased volcanic activity. Volcanic winters take place during solar minimums. It seems that gamma rays may be why volcanoes erupt more during these periods. This certainly also reduces food production and increases disease, presumably because of a rise in malnutrition. However, since gamma rays are also used to treat cancer, there is at least a basis to warrant further investigation if the increase in gamma rays during solar minimums impacts certain susceptible people or those with particular DNA sequences.  I warned back in 2018 that going into a solar minimum in 2019 would help to increase a commodity boom into 2020-2024.

The January 15, 2022 eruption had a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) rating of at least a 5 maybe 6, roughly making that on par with historic eruptions like Mount Vesuvius in 79AD that buried Pompei and Mount St. Helens in 1980 that threw the equivalent of 10 years of pollution from cars into the atmosphere in minutes. The real big one on the West Coast seems to be due more around 2032-2048 time period. That may be the one that creates a real volcanic winter.

Such events can cause what is known as a Volcanic Winter by the ash blocking the sun. That is what has taken place many times throughout recorded history. They called the year 1816 – the year without a summer. This  19th-century disaster played out during 1816 when the weather in Europe and North America entered a volcanic winter with widespread crop failures resulting in famine followed by plague. The dust from the eruption of Mount Tambora, which had erupted in early April 1815, had shrouded the entire globe, blocking the sunlight. This sent the world into darkness, and 1816 did not have a normal summer. It even snowed in New York City in July.

Right now, we are starting to see increased volcanic activity on the East side of the Pacific Rim as it moves under the North American plate. That means we should expect to see an increase in volcanic activity and Solar Wave 25 peaks, and we begin to move into solar minimum once again. This activity is starting in the Aleutian Islands and off the West Coast of the United States.