Several research papers have linked solar activity with the Earth’s climate, finding a correlation between solar activity and the occurrence of severe winters in the UK and continental Europe. Mike Lockwood (UK) in 2010, for example, used surrogate geomagnetic data for the solar activity and the Central England temperature record that extends back to 1659 to study the link. It was found that cold winters are associated with periods of low solar activity; the Maunder Minimum, which had virtually no sunspot activity, coincided with a cold period – the ‘Little Ice Age’. Lockwood, and others, suggest a link between solar activity and the occurrence of long-lived winter blocking events in the eastern Atlantic. There is some evidence that the blocks associated with low solar activity are more intense, longer lasting and displaced further eastwards compared with average conditions.

http://www.met.ie/news/display.asp?ID=123