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The recent wildfires in Australia sent one of the largest plumes of smoke higher into the stratosphere than satellites have ever before observed.
Bushfires have raged in Victoria and New South Wales since November 2019, yielding startling satellite images of smoke plumes streaming from southeastern Australia on a near daily basis. The images got even more eye-popping in January 2020 when unusually hot weather and strong winds supercharged the fires.
Narrow streams of smoke widened into a thick gray and tan pall that filled the skies on January 4, 2020. Several pyrocumulus clouds rose from the smoke, and the towering clouds functioned like elevators, lifting huge quantities of gas and particles well over 6 miles (10 km) above the surface – high enough to put smoke into the stratosphere.
Australian smoke plume sets records by NASA Earth Observatory/EarthSky, Feb 6, 2020
CLAIM: "Earth about to enter 30-YEAR ‘Mini Ice Age’"
SOURCE: CHILL IN THE AIR Earth about to enter 30-YEAR ‘Mini Ice Age’ with -50C temperatures in coldest regions, scientists warn by Harry Pettit, The SUN (UK),
VERDICT: 
KEY TAKEAWAY: Scientists cannot predict whether grand solar minimum, which is a decades-long period of lower solar activity, is coming. But even if one occurred, the consequences for average global temperatures would be minimal. Human-caused greenhouse gas emissions will continue to impact average temperatures much more strongly than solar activity cycles.
Claims of a coming 30-year “mini ice age” are not supported by science, Edited by Scott Johnson, Climate Feedback, Feb 6, 2020
Posted by John Hartz on Sunday, 9 February, 2020
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