From around 1500 to 1850, Earth’s weather cooled down. A lot. It was so cold for so long, this period is called the Little Ice Age. There were more glaciers than at any time in the 10,000 years before that. As far as we know, the century from 1600 to 1700 was one of the coldest ever.
Is Earth due for another very big chill? Most likely, but we can’t say just when. A few hundred or maybe a few thousand years from now, ice sheets will advance again. Many plants and animals will die out. People will have to find new ways to grow crops and stay warm.
What if the next ice age comes in 2203 or even 3303? Will our high-tech world be prepared? No one knows what life will be like in the next glacial period. But we do know what a cold spell meant to people 500 years ago.
