Russ Steele
My friend George Rebane, a Phd systems scientist, an I often discuss climate change and the onset of the next grand minimum. In George’s view a June killing frost in America’s bread basket will be clear indicator the next grand minimum has arrived. Therefore, I keep track of June frosts events. Here is the latest: Eastern Idaho spuds hit hard by early summer frost
Blackfoot Idaho — Potato crops throughout Eastern Idaho were heavily damaged by cold temperatures early June 7.
Aberdeen grower Ritchey Toev estimates 100,000 acres in the region covering Bingham County, the Fort Hall Indian Reservation and north to Bonneville County were potentially affected.
Toevs said about 300 acres of his own crop sustained vegetation damage.
“North of Aberdeen, every field is at least burnt. Some are burnt clear back,” Toevs said. “They will re-grow with less bulk to them. The cold kind of roughens up the crop, too.”
Driving past fields of potato plants with wilted, black foliage, Blackfoot area grower David Cooper explained his spuds likely survived the brief spell of frigid weather, but he guesses it set the crop back about three weeks. He also anticipates his yields will be down 75 to 100 hundredweight per acre, and spud quality will be impaired.
You can read the rest of the story HERE. This was not a killing frost, nor was it in the America’s Breadbasket, but close.
The Next Grand Minimum 
I guess we can add this event to the killing frost in late April and early May after a very warm March. Apple and Cherry crops were almost completely wiped out in Michigan, northern Ohio, Pensylvania, New York and souther parts of Quebec and Ontario Cananda. As I mentioned a few months ago, highly amplitude warm and cold cycles (as opposted to average temperature) may be the real damaging consequence of changing weather patterns caused by a quite sun. Earl Happ http://climatechange1.wordpress.com/ has some of the best ideas for why this might be happening.