Noctilucent Clouds (NLCs) : a sign of a new Ice Age?

It seems so.

There is much talking for some time now on the "strange" clouds we see around the globe this year.

And now spaceweather.com says that NLCs invade the USA.

For a second day in a row we have a noctilucent "storm" over Europe, and yesterday a photographer caught the first such clouds in Oregon, USA.

Noctilucent clouds almost always surge during years of solar minimum such as 2009. No one fully understands the link, but here is a popular idea: Low solar activity allows the upper atmosphere to cool, promoting the formation of tiny ice crystals that make up noctilucent clouds.
Noctilucent clouds occur at around 80km (50 miles) up in the atmosphere.

They were first spied hovering above polar regions in 1885, "suggesting they may have been caused by the eruption of Krakatoa two years before".

However, they have of late been creeping towards the equator, now appearing at latitudes as low as 40°.

[link to spaceweather.com]
[link to www.theregister.co.uk]