Well, for a while there everyone (everyone who cares about such things, that is) was getting excited about the increase in solar activity. After some record breaking periods of minimal activity, things seemed to be hotting up. In particular, a whole series of Cycle 24 sunspots started appearing, which seemed to herald that Cycle 23 was truly dead, and that it was only a matter of time until we departed from the current extended minimum, and resumed a normal upturn towards the next solar maximum. This was especially true earlier this month, because we saw 9 days of continual Cycle 24 sunspots and the sunspot number peaked at 26 (on July 6th), a level not seen since the current minimum commenced. On the 6th, Spaceweather.com hailed the last sunspot activity in these terms:

Solar observers haven't seen an active region like this one in more than two years. It is big, complex, and rapidly growing: movie. The magnetic polarity of the sunspot, revealed by SOHO magnetograms, show that it is a member of new Solar Cycle 24. This makes sense: New research shows that solar jet streams are beginning to stimulate new-cycle sunspot production. Sunspot 1024 appears to be a sign of the process at work, heralding more to come.
However, since that sunspot zone disappeared around the edge of the sun (July 11th), there has been no further activity from the sun. We've now been 13 days without a sunspot, and (shock, horror, turn to Revelations) we've now arrived at the 666th spotless day since the current minimum started. Together with the first 3 days of July, that makes 16 spotless days this month (so far). Compared to the heights of the current minimum, that seems like a fairly small number. Back in July/August/September 2008 for example, we only had six days without sunspots. We need to give this number some context, by comparing it to the last solar minimum. I'll list the six most inactive months for the last minimum (in terms of spotless days): 26; 23; 15; 12; 12; 12 ... in other words, even assuming the sun is covered with spots for the rest of July, 16 spotless days is still damn quiet. It only seems active, because the six most inactive days for this minimum are: 31; 29; 28; 28; 28; 27. (see Solarcycle24.com for the details)

Now here is the part that we really do need to pay attention to. For the last couple of days there has been some activity on the sun that seems to herald a forthcoming sunspot. Today, we have the polarity of that activity ... and it belongs to our old friend, Cycle 23. Back in March 2008, a story on NASA's website asked the question,

"Solar Cycle 23, how can we miss you if you won't go away? Barely three months after forecasters announced the beginning of new Solar Cycle 24, old Solar Cycle 23 has returned. (Actually, it never left.)"
Yep, those forecasters sure have a great record when it comes to predicting future climatic activity based on their various models. Aren't we lucky that the models work so much better concerning the Earth's climate, and that the science is settled on the future of global warming. Oh wait...
[See here for a post where I recently discussed flawed attempts to predict solar activity.]
[Update. The Cycle 23 disturbance seems to have dissipated without ever quite achieving the status of a sunspot. Is this good news or bad news? The sun remains inactive, and July now has 17 spotless days instead of 16, with another 6 days left in July, which means the this month could potentially equal the second most inactive month for the previous solar minimum. It's hardly cause to start celebrating the end of the minimum.]
[Make that 18 spotless days (July 26th) and counting ... Incidentally, this means July has now overtaken June, which had 17 spotless days.]