Solar Cycle 24 & 25

a couple good articles to read on how Cycle 24 and 25 will proceed, basically the peaks have now been downgraded, so neither Cycle 24 or 25 peaks will be good.

The solar peaks are expected in May 2013 for Cycle 24 peak and somewhere in 2024 for Solar Cycle 25 peak.
What this means for working HF & 50 MHz DX, is that you will be working harder and require a bigger, better station to make good contacts.

As for the weather, expect even more worse droughts in the cycle lulls (e.g.. around 2018 and 2030).

Here are the various article to read up on:

S-Meter website's Past Cycles and Predictions for Cycle 24 page
http://www.smeter.net/propagation/sunspots/sunspot-cycle-forecasts.php

Current Solar Cycle predictions for Cycle 24 from NOAA Space Weather Prediction Service
http://www.sec.noaa.gov/SolarCycle/SC24/

Solar Cycle Prediction - NASA Marshall Space Centre for Solar Physics.
http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/predict.shtml

Solar Cycle Progression from NOAA Space Weather Prediction Service
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/SolarCycle/

Solar Cycle Grand Minima and Solar Cycle Modulation article, some heavy theory about the effect of planetary movements within the Solar System and the inter-modulation effects on solar cycles
http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1005/1005.5303.pdf