system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
is there a correlation between the Sun's activity and Global Warming?

The temperature where I live (Ontario, Canada) rose 16 deg. C higher than average for this time of year.  This corresponds directly with the solar flare activity reaching earth. Can this be coincidence and can it explain why global warming is occurring?

Edit: Thank you all for your answers.
gpt
There are several effects that solar activity might have on Earth's climate.

First, of course, is direct luminosity changes. If the Sun's energy output varies by even a fraction of a percent then that could still have a significant impact on the Earth. In general the long term average of solar energy output is fairly stable (other than the regular variations of solar cycles) though it does fluctuate a little over longer time periods and the difference between normal sunspot activity and "maunder minimum" periods appears to be significant.

Second, solar activity specifically in regards to the solar wind will impact the cosmic ray flux at Earth, which will affect cloud formation. The effect of cloud cover on climate is still poorly understood but definitely significant.

Overall we can discount short-term effects such as what you have observed as merely random correlations, there's no plausible mechanism for significant temperature changes due to solar flare activity.

Over long time periods there is some evidence that the Sun's activity has an effect on climate, but ultimately we just don't know. We don't have good records of Earth's weather and the Sun's activity to make any firm conclusions. What evidence we do have seems to indicate a correlation between "maunder minimum" sunspot lulls and climatic cooling, but even that is rather tenuous.